Gary Bradus Quoted in the Sacramento Bee
Published: July 26, 2013
Shareholder and SACTO chair Gary Bradus was quoted in the following article in the Sacramento Bee on Friday, July 26
German chemical giant to open agricultural research and development center to West Sacramento
By Mark Glover, Sacramento Bee
West Sacramento scored a major gain at the expense of nearby neighbor Davis on Thursday.
Germany-based agrochemical company Bayer CropScience announced that it will move its U.S.-based research and development operations for vegetable seed and crop-protection products into an existing 164,000-square-foot facility in West Sacramento.
The move into the shuttered Affymetrix Inc. plant on nearly 10 acres of land is scheduled to happen in next year’s first quarter.
Bayer did not say how many workers the facility would have initially, but noted that it has the capacity to employ 300.
The building at 890 Embarcadero Drive was abandoned in 2009 as part of a consolidation move by Affymetrix, a biotech firm based in Santa Clara.
Bayer, a subsidiary of German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG with annual sales of more than $1.5 billion, also said it plans to acquire additional, as-yet-unidentified, land nearby in West Sacramento to build a greenhouse and test plot facility.
The move will relocate Bayer’s vegetable seeds research and business management operations, which are currently housed in multiple facilities in Davis – the primary one comprising about 30,000 square feet in south Davis.
Bayer CropScience said it has big plans for the West Sacramento site.
“Integrated crop solutions, with biologics and vegetable seeds as key components, will give growers worldwide new tools to manage the diverse demands of the food chain while maximizing the yield and quality of their crops,” said Mike Miille, a business management executive with Bayer.
“It is exciting that the new jobs that will be created in greater Sacramento through this investment and expansion will have such a wide-reaching impact.”
The Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization said the move will have an annual economic impact of more than $127 million in the region.
SACTO was one of multiple entities working to land Bayer in the region.
“The commitment to the Sacramento region that this investment represents by a company with the global stature of Bayer AG validates the region’s strength in agriculture, biotech and related sciences and paves the way for more companies to follow,” said Gary Bradus, SACTO’s board chairman.
Read the entire Sacramento Bee article here.