Monsanto Announces $400 Million Expansion to Chesterfield Facility

Chesterfield will be at the heart of a $400 million expansion announced by agribusiness giant Monsanto today as it seeks to add more plant growth chambers, offices and laboratory space to its Chesterfield Village Research center over the next three years.

The company announced the major news Tuesday and in a press release said the project will add 675 jobs to the already 1,000 positions at the Chesterfield site.  The new facilities will be aimed at developing the company’s seed and trait pipeline while allowing for coloration among researches to find ways to make agriculture more productive and sustainable.  

“Monsanto has pledged to help those in agriculture find new ways to produce more while using less of our globes resources,” said Robb Fraley, Monsanto’s chief technology officer.

According to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Monsanto announced the news Tuesday morning with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon at the annual International Bio Convention in Chicago.  The state is kicking in $31.5 million in tax incentives to help fund the project.

Nixon praised the company and said this latest investment helps further establish Missouri as a “biotech powerhouse.”

"One of the fastest-growing sectors of Missouri's economy is in science and technology, and I remain committed to embracing these industries to transform our economy and create next-generation jobs,” he said.

The news comes amid strong growth for Monsanto, which the Post-Dispatch reported had $13.5 billion in revenue last year driven by global demand for the company’s seeds. The Chesterfield facilities house the laboratories that do much of the research into those seeds.

The release stated that the expansion will add 36 new technologically advanced greenhouses capable of being programmed to represent any climate around the world. Currently, the site spans 1.5 million square feet and includes approximately 250 laboratories, 122 plant growth chambers and two acres of greenhouses.

The company said its commercial and corporate teams will continue to occupy its Creve Coeur campus, which also currently houses lab spaces. Once employees are transferred to Chesterfield, those lab spaces may be converted to other uses, Fraley said. 

Construction is expected to be completed in 2017, and teams will begin moving to the Chesterfield site in phases beginning at that time.

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