DuPont announces $35 million research facility in Delaware

 A DuPont Pioneer seed sign is placed in a bean field in Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

A DuPont Pioneer seed sign is placed in a bean field in Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

DuPont plans to build a 134,000-square-foot soybean research facility at its Stine Haskell Research Center in Newark.

The research center will include two state-of-the-art automated greenhouses designed to develop better varieties of soybeans. The facility will also include three 60,000 gallon rainwater cisterns able to harvest, filter and reuse run-off.

Construction on the center is expected to be completed in 2016.

“The new DuPont Pioneer Delaware Soybean Research Facility will advance our research and development pipeline and enhance the value of Pioneer brand soybean varieties,” said Neal Gutterson, vice president of Agricultural Biotechnology for DuPont Pioneer. “This research is an important part of the DuPont strategic focus on agriculture and nutrition against the backdrop of an increasing world population and demand for more food.”

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Ed Kee, secretary of the Delaware Dept. of Agriculture, praised the announcement.

“Delaware is proud of this investment by DuPont in the future of agriculture and that is occurring in our state,” Kee said. “All of us connected with our state’s agriculture look forward to the results of DuPont’s commitment to helping feed the world.”

Pioneer has worked with soybeans since 1973. The new facility will help the company expand its offerings of insect-resistant, herbicide-tolerant soybean products that should improve yields for growers. 

In 2014, more than 84 million acres of soybeans were planted in the United States, an 11 percent increase from the previous year.

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