The Central Valley area produces more than $13bn worth of agricultural products annually and offers an ideal combination of land-base, climate and ago-industrial expertise and infrastructure.
The headquarters are currently located on a 10-acre site where the company aims to develop offices, a research and development facility including a stevia test plot, greenhouse, nursery, and laboratory for performing stevia tissue culture and micropropagation studies.
Yuba City is in the heart of the Central Valley and can provide ready access to talent from the University of California at Davis, one of the leading agricultural research universities in US, including access to the extraordinarily rich talent pool of farmers, agronomists, agricultural innovators and equipment suppliers in the area.
Following completion of the stevia test plot, the company expects to expand acreage devoted to stevia planting in the Central Valley through acquisition or leasing of new land and alliances with local farmers.
Company CEO, Robert Brooke, said: “We plan to collaborate with local growers and researchers in order to develop stevia varieties that will thrive in the Central Valley. Our aim is to produce a top-quality plant containing high levels of Reb A and that is amenable to mechanised harvesting.
“Stevia is a rapidly expanding market, but with more than 85% of stevia production currently overseas our company is focused on enabling local farmers to grow stevia as a cash crop, and on building a first-of-kind vertically integrated stevia enterprise in California.”
Source: Stevia First Corp
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