Agricultural biotech firm Calyxt will build a new headquarters and research facility in Roseville, having been awarded a $477,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
 
Calyxt, which creates new crop varieties using technologies developed in part by the University of Minnesota, also plans to add more than 60 jobs over the next three years in positions ranging from scientists to commercial personnel. The company currently has 24 employees at its current operations in New Brighton.
 
Calyxt’s move to Roseville is chiefly to accommodate business growth and establish outdoor research plots where there is more access to land. Its new 35,000-square-foot facility will include a 6,000-square-foot greenhouse and 4.5 acres of test fields.
 
“The goal of this facility is to accelerate the development of our…various key crops, including soybeans, potatoes, canola, wheat and corn,” Calyxt CEO Luc Mathis said in a statement.
 
Funding for Calyxt’s expansion plans comes from the state’s Job Creation Fund, which launched in January 2014 and has awarded $28.6 million to 57 Minnesota businesses. Funded companies have created approximately 3,700 full-time jobs and invested $596.2 million toward further expansion in the state.
 
Lt. Governor Tina Smith said Calyxt was awarded the grant for its goal of creating high-paying jobs in a high-demand industry. “Their expansion is exactly what the Minnesota Job Creation Fund is designed to assist: good jobs in a growing sector.”