Monsanto Completes Expansion of Jerseyville Facility

The site was also home to the first triple stacked corn trial in 1998, one of Monsanto’s top-selling products that combines Roundup Ready herbicide tolerance, YieldGard Corn Borer insect protection and YieldGard Rootworm insect protection.

10/11/08 Monsanto Company has announced the completion of a $3 million expansion project at its Jerseyville, Ill., location, continuing Jerseyville’s long history at the forefront of biotechnology. This historic site conducted the world’s very first biotechnology field trial in 1987 – first with tomatoes and later that year with Roundup Ready soybeans. The site was also home to the first triple stacked corn trial in 1998, one of Monsanto’s top-selling products that combines Roundup Ready herbicide tolerance, YieldGard Corn Borer insect protection and YieldGard Rootworm insect protection.

The Jerseyville facility manages biotechnology field trials for projects in Monsanto’s research-and-development pipeline like dicamba-tolerant soybeans, water use efficiency cotton, nitrogen use efficiency corn, Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans and drought tolerant corn. The site also processes seed for further field trials in other Midwestern states. Today’s completion of the $3 million investment creates a new office building for the location and a state-of-the-art seed processing facility.

“This expansion solidifies Jerseyville’s role as a center of biotechnology for the globe,” said Steve Padgette, Monsanto's vice president of biotechnology. “The work done at this historic facility is a key part in our R&D process. As someone who was involved in the beginning of biotechnology there, it’s personally rewarding to continue our investment in the Jerseyville facility and, subsequently, the Jerseyville community.”

The expansion includes roughly 22,000 square feet of new building or renovation, adding to the site’s existing 16 greenhouses, and nearly 300 acres of field trials. The site intends to plant roughly 120,000 field plots next summer, with about 90,000 of those to corn trials and the remainder to soybean trials.