Monsanto in cooperation with the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA) announced plans to begin construction of a new, state-of-the-art cotton seed processing facility in Lubbock, Texas. The construction of the new facility is expected to begin in March 2016 and be completed in the second half of calendar year 2017.

With an investment of $140 million, the facility is expected to employ 40 full-time personnel. The site will be established as Monsanto’s primary US hub for all commercial cotton seed processing operations - to include cleaning, treating and bagging of cotton seed - while existing processing facilities will transition to support storage and warehousing, pre-commercial operations and research in various parts of the cotton belt.

Last October, Monsanto announced a number of strategic actions to help drive greater scale in its business and further enhance its overall operations. Location of the new hub facility, Monsanto’s established relationship with LEDA and the opportunity to leverage new production technology factored into the decision to consolidate and optimize its U.S. commercial cotton seed processing operations.