Jul 22, 2019

$50M FMC greenhouse investment boosts Delaware agriculture

Ag sciences giant FMC Corporation last month announced a $50 million investment to completely reconfigure a new greenhouse complex and perform other site improvements at its global research and development headquarters in Newark, Del.

FMC’s investment over the next three years will include capital improvement projects, including a state-of-the-art reconfiguration of a greenhouse and research facility and its R&D headquarters, according to a press release from the company.

FMC acquired the 515-acre Stine Research Center campus as part of its acquisition of a portion of DuPont’s crop protection business in 2017. The transaction was the largest in FMC history and retained more than 500 jobs in Delaware, transferred 45 employees from a nearby state and created 19 new positions.

FMC plans to reconfigure an existing structure at the facility to enhance its R&D efforts. In support of the project, the company plans to hire 13 employees over the next three years, which would bring its total of full-time R&D employees at the Delaware campus to approximately 375. The new positions include professional scientists and skilled associates, adding approximately $1.3 million to its annual payroll. The site’s total workforce of nearly 600 includes support staff and contractors.

The Delaware Prosperity Partnership – the state’s nonprofit economic development group, noted other recent developments showing the agribusiness sector is growing:

• In May, Corteva Agriscience spun off from DowDuPont (keeping its Delaware headquarters) to become the leading agricultural sciences firm, with an estimated $14 billion in annual revenue.
• Last year, Belchim, a Belgian chemical crop protection company, established its U.S. headquarters in Delaware to capitalize on the state’s concentration of bioscience firms and talent.
• To support the sector, Delaware Governor John Carney announced new farmland preservation. More than 25 percent of Delaware’s farmland (134,000 acres) is now permanently preserved, thanks to matching funds from multiple sources, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, the United States Navy’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, Sussex County Council, New Castle County Council, and Kent County Levy Court.

Above: FMC Corporation plans to invest more than $50 million over the next three years in capital improvement projects, including a state-of-the-art reconfiguration of a greenhouse and research facility at the company’s Global Research and Development headquarters in Newark, Delaware. Photo: Delaware Prosperity Partnership/PRNewswire

­