04/28/08 Pasco getting seed plant; new grass seed fungicide

Washington Ag April 28, 2008 Syngenta has announced it will build a seed processing facility in Pasco, Washington. Syngenta spokesperson Rose Reifsnyder says the Pasco facility will replace the company's sweet corn and vegetable seed processing facilities in Nampa, Idaho and Gilroy, California, which will be sold. Reifsnyder: "We did a thorough assessment of many different sites and then we were looking at our growing region in the state of Washington, and it became pretty clear that in Pasco there were immediate benefits and some f future benefits. We were looking at things like accessibility, infrastructure. Pasco offered favorable zoning laws for us and then there are already other agricultural companies there." Construction is expected to begin this fall on the 130-thousand square foot Pasco facility, which will have 27 full-time employees. Bayer CropScience says it has received EPA registration for Absolute, a fungicide to control rust and powdery mildew in Pacific Northwest grass seed fields. Bayer says Absolute contains two distinct modes of action and provides curative control, strong preventative activity and a unique approach to resistance management. Absolute is currently available through local retailers in the Pacific Northwest cropping region. I'm Bob Hoff.