Missouri Proves Prime Choice For Israeli Agtech Companies In U.S.
- August 15, 2016
In 2014, plant scientists and business leaders from St. Louis, Missouri, visited Israel in the hope of “planting seeds” that could one day draw expanding Israeli agtech companies into the St. Louis area; an area which has become a global leader in plant science and agtech.
Israeli agtech firms Kaiima Agro-Biotech, Evogene, Forrest Innovations and, most recently, NRGene have each established their U.S. headquarters in St. Louis. NRGene, which uses big data analytics to identify genetic traits and improve crops, is now located in the Cortex Innovation Community and recently talked to NPR about the move.
“Missouri as the ‘Heartland’ of American agriculture is the natural U.S. home for NRGene,” said Gil Ronen, CEO of NRGene. “Our strong partnership with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center brought us to St. Louis, and GlobalSTL convinced us to stay.”
In Missouri, the future of agtech is happening today. Big data, smart farming, input optimization, precision ag, biologicals, breeding, green chemistry, green pharmaceuticals … it’s all growing right here.