State officials say a Japanese company will build a $132-million “bioscience” plant in north central Iowa. The Valent plant in Osage should “initially” employ 89 people when it’s finished according to Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds.
“Valent Biosciences Corporation…commercializes and supplies low-risk, environmentally-friendly agriculture, public health, forestry products and insecticides,” she says. A formal announcement about the facility is scheduled for one o’clock today in Osage.
The State of Iowa is providing a half a million dollars to upgrade the wastewater treatment system in Osage in anticipation of the plant’s load.
“This project will bring vibrancy not only to Osage, but the entire (region) through the addition of nearly 89 bioscience jobs for Iowans, the construction and physical presence of a new facility that’s 130,000 square feet, the commitment to environmentally-conscious (products) and though the new technologies that will be used and researched through this new facilities,” Reynolds said this morning in Des Moines.
“And we are extremely excited to welcome VBC to Iowa.” Valent markets products by the names of “ProGibb” and “ReTran” — described as a plant growth regulators — and an insecticide called “DiPel.” The governor’s office describes DiPel as the “world’s leading biological insecticide.”