The Monsanto Company has unveiled phase one of the Monsanto Caribe expansion project with a new smart greenhouse at the Juana Díaz site. This new facility is the result of a $20 million investment and the company’s commitment to continue to grow and invest in Puerto Rico.

“We are very proud and happy to share with all of our stakeholders the harvest of all of our hard work and dedication, our new smart greenhouse at the Monsanto Caribe site in Juana Diaz,” shared Rosa Guerrero, site lead at Monsanto Caribe during the inaugural event. “This new facility will allow us to implement even more of modern agriculture efficiencies in our procedures, to help Monsanto deliver better and faster solutions to our farmer customers.”

“Our goal at Monsanto is to provide smart and sustainable solutions to farmers around the world. That’s why we are excited to open the smart greenhouse in Juana Diaz today. This smart greenhouse enables researchers to produce high quality seeds for our research pipeline while using fewer resources,” said Mike Graham, Vice President of Global Plant Breeding for Monsanto Company.

The new smart greenhouse features climate control technology to regulate the temperature and light, retractable ceiling shades, irrigation, and pest control applications. This technology collects data on how these environmental conditions are performing, and even helps Monsanto create new environmental conditions as researchers and personnel continue to learn from the data. Examples of this technology includes automated irrigation systems, light and temperature sensors, automated temperature control, and LED lights to optimize plant growth.

However, the most significant achievement can be found in the topic of sustainability. The combination and integration of these climate technologies allows Monsanto to implement even more modern agriculture efficiencies into their procedures, to help them deliver faster, better and more sustainable solutions. The greenhouse also helps Monsanto to better implement integrated pest management practices, and effectively protect crops against environmental factors, such as excessive sunlight, rain, and drought stress.

“These new facilities represent both Monsanto’s commitment to advancing modern agricultural science and technology, as well as our commitment to contribute towards the economic and technological development of Puerto Rico,” highlighted Graham.  “Investing in our facilities, our employees, and our communities has been key to our success for the past 20 years. We will continue to do so, as we move forward in our goal for maximum sustainable production in all of our operations.”