Why AgBiotech in North Carolina?

Potato research field, courtesy of Vernon James Research and Extension Center, Washington County.

Biotech and agriculture are a natural fit.

A 2008 study by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy found that eight biotech crops planted on 156 million acres in the U.S. in 2006 produced 7.7 billion more pounds of food and fiber than would have been possible without biotech. These crops - soybeans, corn, cotton, papaya, squash, alfalfa, sweet corn and canola - improved farm income by $2.6 billion and reduced pesticide use by 110 million pounds.

North Carolina -- and NCBiotech -- are a major part of that agricultural landscape. A few facts:

• Ag brings $70.1 billion to the state every year. That’s 18 percent of the state's income.
• 700,000 people – 18 percent of the state's workforce – work in agriculture.
• The wholesale value of North Carolina's nursery crops alone exceeded $1 billion in 2006.
• We have more than 80 agricultural biotechnology-related companies across the state.
• Those companies employ more than 7,700 North Carolinians.
• NC Alexandria Ag-Tech Center is planned to feature 18,000 sq.ft. of flexible multi-tenant greenhouse and headhouse facilities.
• We have multiple wet lab facilities statewide available for experiments using water to test and analyze chemicals and other biological matter.
• The Biotechnology Center has provided $13.98 million in agricultural biotechnology funding through grants and loans.
• The Center has made more than 170 grants for agriculturally related university research.
• The Biotechnology Center has made 34 loans or grants totaling $2.6 million to agricultural and nutraceutical companies. These companies have secured nearly $800 million in follow-on funding from other sources, more than $305 for each dollar invested.