The agricultural innovation system of the mid and late 20thC

Selected examples. List is obviously very incomplete and I rarely update it. Likely to be errors.

Mainly seems to have been built around rural research establishments initially operated by “national” firms but there are exceptions.

Despite a lot of M&A some of the establishments were surprising durable although fewer now remain.

One interesting specific is that Jealott’s Hill is now owned by a state enterprise (ChemChina) whereas in the German cases there has been remarkable consistency in ownership.

The British officials never nationalized ICI, the creator of Jealott’s Hill, even though ICI was always very close to the state if not synonymous with it. The story of ChemChina is equally fascinating and in many ways unexpected in that it started life as a private organization.

It is important to understand these institutions are not the sum total of R&D conducted by the companies and R&D would also be contracted to universities and government research institutes, to varying degrees, according to corporate strategy at any particular time.

Currently operating establishments are at the top of the list and are marked with *.

I wonder the extent to which ChemChina will continue to see value in operating the Jealott’s Hill facility, given the innovation model ran out of steam many decades ago as well as the fact that the UK withdrew from strategic R&D in agriculture, also many decades ago. It seems there a development plans mooted including housing and retail for the site; this page seems quite telling.

EstablishmentYears of operationCompanies (reflecting M&A)
*Monheim (DE)1970s-presentBayer
*Limburgerhof(1) (DE)1914-presentBASF
*Jealott’s Hill (UK)1928-presentICI, Zeneca, Syngenta, ChemChina
Chesterford Park (UK)1952-n.d.Pest Control, Fisons, Boots, FBC, Schering, AgrEvo, Aventis
Levington (UK)1956-n.d.Fisons
Fernhurst (UK)1945-2001Plant Protection, ICI, Zeneca, Syngenta
Woodstock (UK)1945-1995Shell
St Aubin (CH)1968-n.d.Ciba Geigy
La Dargoire (FR)n.d.Progil, Rhône-Poulenc, Aventis, Bayer
Château de Gironville (FR)1938-n.d.SUCRP, Rhône-Poulenc
Sophia Antipolis (FR)n.d.Rhône-Poulenc
Ongar (UK)1946-2001May and Baker, Rhône-Poulenc
Émerainville (FR)1954-n.d.Rhône-Poulenc
Geleen(2) (NL)n.d.DSM
(1) Associated with another site, Rehhütte (DE). (2) “Central Laboratory”. Sources: Wikipedia, general knowledge and websites; additionally, Grison and Lhoste, 1989, La phytopharmacie française: Chronique historique; https://www.bayer.com/sites/default/files/BAYER_StandortbroschuereMonheim_2021_DE_online_final%5B2%5D.pdf; 50Years of Shell Research at Sittingbourne 1945-1995; Peacock, 1978, Jealott’s Hill: fifty years of agricultural research; https://agriculture.basf.com/global/en/about_us/our-history.html; https://www.batimag.ch/projets/la-tour-du-futur-campus-agroalimentaire-de-saint-aubin-fr-ne-passe-pas-3754; Jas, 2018, L’agriculture biologique vue par l’élite de l’intensification agricole des Trente Glorieuses, in: Transhumances (link); https://www.terre-net.fr/2017/article/132295/bayer-joue-la-transparence-avant-la-fusion-avec-monsanto. Not sure if Centro ricerca della Montedison e del Centro Donegani di Novara undertook agricultural R&D (Saviotti, et al., 2000, L’Istituto Guido Donegani di Novara). Monsanto operated an R&D site in Zurich (CH) but again do not know if it dealt with agriculture.

Arora, et al., 2017, The decline of science in corporate R&D, in: Strategic Management Journal

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