AgReliant Genetics Expands Research Near Ames, Iowa

WESTFIELD, Ind., – January 12, 2012

AgReliant Genetics is expanding its research efforts in Iowa by adding a 15,000 square foot early and late breeding program facility that aligns with the company’s business growth in the Western Corn Belt.

This facility, to be located between Ames and Boone, IA, will employ breeders that will manage a testing network of plots producing performance data from western Iowa and northwest Missouri. The staff will personally manage performance trials in those regions with the primary goal of developing top-performing hybrids for that geographic area. Through cooperation with other AgReliant Genetics research stations, novel products will be tested in representative environments throughout southern Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin among other locations across the Corn Belt. A breeding nursery adjacent to the facility will be devoted to development of parental inbred corn lines.

Dr. Idris Amusan, who joined the staff in April of 2010 after completing his doctorate in Plant Breeding at Purdue University, will serve as Research Station Manager. Amusan will be joined by Steve Schuetz, corn breeder and local contact for the expansion, who has 33 years of seed research experience.

“By expanding our facility in the Ames- Boone corridor, AgReliant Genetics is able to capitalize on a tremendous opportunity for growth,” Schuetz explains.

The facility will be located east of Boone on US 30, less than a mile from the 2012 Farm Progress Show site. It also boasts a conference facility that will host many meetings and seminars, upon completion.

“With the increased functionality of the space, proximity to the Farm Progress Show site and our dedication to this geography, the addition will greatly enhance interaction between research staff, business personnel, and customers in the western Corn Belt,” Schuetz concludes.

Completion of the facility is anticipated in the summer of 2012.