Mycogen Seeds Announces Temporary R&D Breeding Station
Dow AgroSciences LLC and Mycogen Seeds announced today the signing of a lease agreement and purchase option for a new breeding station facility near Huron, South Dakota. This station will serve as a temporary facility while plans are secured for a permanent site.
The South Dakota field station will expand grain and silage corn testing and breeding, improve and expand sunflower testing and enable better mini-strip testing for both corn and sunflowers. The facility includes space for offices, seed labs, and cold storage, as well as an equipment storage building with an equipment shop area.
“At Dow AgroSciences, we continue to invest and strengthen our breeding station infrastructure to fuel the growth of our seeds and traits business,” said Don Blackburn, North American Seeds and Traits Field Breeding and Development leader. “We expect our Mycogen Seeds business to grow and are excited about the future launch of SmartStaxTM and our Dow Herbicide Tolerance (DHT) family of traits. This new location near Huron strengthens the commitment to our long-term strategy and is part of several projects globally.”
“I am excited for the development of the new Dow AgroSciences research station,” said Richard Benda, secretary, South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development. “Dow AgroSciences is currently hiring a Ph.D. corn breeder and in the future, will need bachelor-level researchers at their new facility that will specialize in drought-tolerant research. In addition to these professional positions, Dow AgroSciences will offer excellent internship opportunities for students interested in South Dakota’s growing biotechnology industry.”
The new breeding station near Huron will conduct research in grain corn and silage corn breeding as well as sunflowers.
Plans are underway to hire a corn breeder at the Huron site along with other full-time and seasonal employees.
