Volga breaks ground for ag research center

Ashley Allgaier

Brookings Register Online

Volga s east side is booming with new housing developments, a reopened service station and convenience store ? and the coming of a new Pioneer Hi-Bred research center.

The new ag science center, situated near the South Dakota Soybean Processors plant, was launched Monday afternoon with a community-corporate groundbreaking.

Volga will greatly benefit from Pioneer s presence in the community by adding to the job market and local economy, said Mayor Tom Pierce at the Pioneer ceremonies Monday.

Land that now has the remains of last year s soybean crop clinging to its surface will become the $3.5 million Pioneer South Dakota Research Center, expected to open this fall.

The nearly six-acre site is located on Caspian Avenue, southwest of the soybean processing operation.

As farmers take to the field this spring, construction will begin on the 18,000-square foot metal building that will contain office and seed handling areas as well as equipment storage. The building will also host customers and serve as a regional training center for the sales team.

Nine full-time staffers

Pioneer, a DuPont business, will use the new state-of-the-art facility to expand the development of corn hybrids suited for the northwestern Corn Belt. The company will locally staff nine full time positions and provide temporary summer work for more than 60 high school and college students

?This permanent site represents our commitment to develop high-yielding hybrids perfectly suited for area growers,? said William Niebur, DuPont vice president. ?We continue to push the Corn Belt north and west.?

Research will test next-generation weed and insect control, drought tolerance and efficient nitrogen use traits. When operational, the South Dakota Research Center team will also expand yield testing in east-central South Dakota and western Minnesota.

The regional emergence of ethanol will also impact developed traits. Pioneer plans to expand its ethanol evaluation test plots to create hybrids capable of producing more ethanol per acre.

Niebur said hybrids developed for the area would bring more acres into production in a sustainable way, at the same time reaching greater levels of productivity and increased efficiency.

Test plots in Volga

Although the new research facility represents a major investment, Pioneer has maintained a presence in the state since 1968. Locally the company has maintained test plots on land owned by the VanderWal family of Volga.

The South Dakota research team has been working out of Brookings since spring 2006. The new research facility will consolidate the temporary Brookings space in Volga.

?We ve had remarkable growth the past two years in Brookings, allowing us to make this long-term commitment to product development for this area,? Neibur said.

Contact Ashley Allgaier at aallgaier@brookingsregister.com.