By Julie Bierach, KWMU
SAINT LOUIS, MO – St. Louis- based Monsanto Company has announced plans to expand its Iowa seed corn operations.
Monsanto is spending $230 million to improve existing Dekalb corn seed production sites in central Iowa and build a new Dekalb corn seed production plant in northeast Iowa.
Darren Wallis, a spokesman for Monsanto, says it's due in large part to the popularity of the Dekalb brand.
"The Dekalb brand has been gaining market share for the past 6 years," said Wallis. "Certainly ethanol has helped recently, but we've seen a lot of traction and a lot of growth for the past 6 years."
Wallis says the projects will double corn seed production in Iowa.
When the facilities are complete by 2010, Iowa will be responsible for about one-fourth of Monsanto's seed corn production.