DuPont Invests $50 million in Biotech Soybean Research

Posted by Matt Hopkins|18 February 2011

United States — DuPont plans to invest more than $50 million over five years to expand its biotech soybean research and development program in Delaware, according to a press release.

“This plan includes a significant expansion of our overall biotech research effort,” said John Bedbrook, vice president of DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology, in a prepared statement. “It would increase the speed at which we can bring new products to the market and help farmers around the world increase yields through tolerance to environmental stresses, insects and disease.”

The expansion plan includes new soybean research laboratories, tissue culture facilities, environmentally controlled growth rooms and greenhouses, which not only benefit soybean R&D efforts but also extend research resources for other core crops, according to DuPont.

The Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) has offered a $1.5 million grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund to create jobs and to assist with the development of a new center. The funding is performance based and conditioned on DuPont’s capital investment in the project. An additional $125,000 grant will be awarded from the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA), according to the release.