US (AZ): Monsanto to grow greenhouse crops in Tucson area
The company hopes to start building a facility later this year to grow corn and soybeans in at least one greenhouse on a 7-acre site in Pima County, a Monsanto spokeswoman told the Star.
The main purpose will be for corn-breeding operations, which use few genetically modified organisms, Monsanto spokeswoman Christi Dixon said. But it also will do “trait integration,” which combines genetic and biotech traits, Dixon said.
Word of Monsanto’s Arizona plans became public Wednesday when the company announced in a news release “its investment plans for greenhouses in Arizona.” Dixon provided more details Friday, but didn’t specify where the greenhouse would be built. More than one greenhouse could be built on the same site, she said.
Using new automated greenhouses, with robots watering and otherwise maintaining crops, the company hopes it can “better manage risks — like insect, disease and weather variables — we may otherwise encounter in open field environments,” Dixon said in an email.
Read more at tucson.com