Bayer Opens New Greenhouse Research Facility In West Sacramento

Posted by Brian Sparks|March 1, 2016

Bayer recently unveiled the grand opening of its new West Sacramento, CA, greenhouse site that will support the Crop Science division’s growing Biologics and Vegetable Seeds businesses. The $12 million complex, situated on 5 acres, represents Bayer’s continuing commitment to innovative agricultural solutions to provide growers with more options to help crops thrive in seasonal and regional growing conditions.

“Innovation requires sustained and ongoing investments,” says Jim Blome, President and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP. “These state-of-the-art facilities illustrate our continued commitment to developing new innovative products for growers to help them on their farms by improving the overall sustainability and productivity of modern agriculture.”

The West Sacramento greenhouse site will feature two new high-tech greenhouses located near Bayer’s existing research facility. Bayer’s local Vegetable Seeds research team will utilize one 14,000-square-foot greenhouse and an 11,000-square-foot screen house to work toward improvements in vegetable seed trait attributes, such as flavor and shelf life. The Biologics Research and Development team will utilize a separate 11,000-square-foot greenhouse to provide plants for research in crop efficiency and disease/insect management, including an attached 4,000-square-foot headhouse containing a fully equipped laboratory area. On average, the Biologics greenhouse team will provide up to 3,400 high-quality plants to researchers each week. Individually controlled greenhouse chambers will allow Bayer researchers to grow a diverse range of agricultural and horticultural crops under different temperature and light settings.

The completion of the West Sacramento greenhouse site follows the grand opening of Bayer’s integrated R&D site for Biologics and Vegetable Seeds in September 2014. In addition to the new greenhouse complex, the approximately $80 million facility consists of a nearby 10-acre site containing 170,000 square feet of research and development space, including laboratories and offices and a 2,000 square-foot existing greenhouse.

“We are excited to build on our capacity for innovation here in West Sacramento, where agricultural technology and world-class universities are all within reach,” says Jon Margolis, Vice President of Biologics Research for Bayer’s Crop Science division and West Sacramento site leader. “The products emerging from our research in West Sacramento will ultimately help farmers around the world grow more productive crops. These advancements will allow us to significantly and positively affect farming on a global scale and help feed a growing world population.”