Sakata Seed America announces infrastructure expansion, new headquarters
Sakata Seed America recently initiated plans to relocate its headquarters from Morgan Hill, Calif., to its 219-acre site in Woodland, Calif., by late 2024, according to a news release.
The planned relocation to the Woodland Innovation Center will follow the second phase of an infrastructure expansion project that began in 2016, the release said.
The innovation center celebrated its official opening in 2018, when phase one of the building project was completed. That phase includes 16 acres of operational facilities, including greenhouses; a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED,-certified office; headhouse; washery; a 25,000-square-foot warehouse featuring the latest technology in seed processing equipment; and a farm shop, the release said.
In addition, there is ample farmland to host Sakata’s annual California Field Days event and serve as a permanent trialing location for the company’s expanding breeding programs and research and development department, according to the release.
“The expansion of our Woodland Innovation Center is an exciting and necessary step for the future of Sakata,” Dave Armstrong, president and CEO of Sakata Seed America, said in the release. “As we broaden our leadership position in a range of warm crops, it’s imperative that we support our growing business and deepen our roots in one of the world’s most dynamic growing regions: the ‘Silicon Valley of seed.’ Our headquarters relocation to Woodland reflects our commitment to California’s vital agriculture and seed sectors, and the investment enables us to consolidate R&D and multiple other functions on a single, state-of-the-art campus."
In May this year, Sakata also opened a new facility in Marina, Calif., near Salinas. The Sakata Marina Distribution Center is a 20,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled warehouse and office building, according to the release. The center is now home to the company’s lettuce seed program and, in the future, will store and deliver multiple species, including Sakata’s robust brassica program, for the Coastal California region in 2024.
“We aim to supply high-quality seed and market-leading genetics to the Salinas Valley, a community in which we’ve grown and operated since 1985. Marina is centrally located in the area and provides us with all means necessary to support our innovative breeding programs, as well as our growth in the Salinas Valley and neighboring growing regions,” John Nelson, executive vice president, said in the release.
