DuPont to build soybean research facility

A $35 million research center under construction at DuPont's Stine-Haskell Research Center near Newark is planned to help expand the company's reach in the soybean sector.

Land had already been cleared for the nearly 134,000 square-foot facility located on the company's existing campus off Elkton Road. It will be the second building in Delaware that is dedicated to the line of seeds that carry the Pioneer name.

"For more than 200 years we have called Delaware home, and we continue to believe this state is an attractive place to for a science company like ours," said Neal Gutterson, vice president of agricultural biotechnology for DuPont Pioneer.

The new DuPont Pioneer Delaware Soybean Research Facility will be home to researchers who will work in to create new agricultural products. The company plans to build two modern greenhouses and three high-tech 60,000-gallon water collection units to make use of run-off water.

Civil engineering work, such as concrete and masonry, will go to Delaware-based companies, Gutterson said. They will work in partnership with teams employed by DuPont to construct the new building, he said. The project is expected to be complete by 2016. It will not consume the entire footprint of land available for development, company officials said, leaving room for expansion here.

DuPont Pioneer is based in Iowa, although the parent company and some Pioneer seed research facilities are based in Delaware. Gutterson, who joined DuPont last month, visited the Stine-Haskell Research Center near Newark for an official groundbreaking event on Thursday.

"Although he is based in Iowa, where I understand corn is king, we are thrilled to host him in Delaware where soybean is queen," said Patti Adcock, site manager at the Stine-Haskell Research Center said. "And if you've been downstate lately you know what I mean."

In Delaware and surrounding states, many farmers have turned to planting soybeans. That includes varieties that have been created by DuPont, such as a seed named Plenish, which has oil qualities that the company says are attractive to consumers and food companies.

These soybeans can be mashed into chicken feed. Perdue announced plans in November to double the number of contracts for growing these crops in Maryland.

Most of the research in the new building will be on the company's line of soybean products, officials at DuPont said. The seeds are engineered to increase protein and oil in soybeans while also maintaining large yields of the crop for farmers, company officials said.

Farmers who planted soy rather than corn might be rewarded.

A bushel of soybeans brought three times as much money as a bushel of corn in late May, according to Bloomberg research. While prices on soy remained the same in June, the price of corn decreased by nearly a third, according to Bloomberg.

During its quarterly earnings report last month, company executives stated that farmers are shifting much of their acres from corn to soybeans. Corn makes up about half of the company's seed business. Company officials have described this as a short-term problem.

The company, which was founded with a focus on chemicals, has been moving more toward agriculture and nutrition in recent years.

"It is an increasingly important part of DuPont," Gutterson said in remarks Thursday while visiting Delaware.

The construction of a new Pioneer research complex in Newark was first reported by The News Journal earlier this month. The announcement came just after the company reported its second quarter earnings.

Among the state and local leaders at Thursday's groundbreaking were Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee, Delaware Economic Development Office Director Alan B. Levin and New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon.

Information from The News Journal archives and Bloomberg is included in this report.

Contact reporter Nichole Dobo at (302) 324-2281 or ndobo@delawareonline.com. On Twitter @NicholeDobo.