Sakata Seed America celebrated its new Woodland Innovation Center with a grand opening on Sept. 13. The innovation center, in the works since 2016, is a culmination of infrastructure and land enabling Sakata Seed America to consolidate and expand research-and-development and production in a single campus that is flexible for future expansion.

Stantec’s Sacramento office led the architectural design of the project and also provided interior design, landscape architecture, and LEED. DesCor Builders is the general contractor.

The center sits on 215 acres outside of Woodland. The new research center occupies 15 acres, with the remaining 200 acres dedicated to agriculture. This facility was master planned, designed and constructed from the ground up. With Sakata’s vision of making the location a major hub in Northern California, the design required providing new infrastructure in a remote area, including domestic, industrial, and firefighting water supply; industrial waste water processing; domestic waste septic and leach fields power; and future solar and propane farm.

The facility includes an 11,000-square-foot office building; a 25,000-sf warehouse housing the latest technology in seed processing equipment; the Washery, a building for washing, fluming, and drying all varieties of wet seed; a 6,000-sf farm shop used for production maintenance and equipment, drying of seed, and other farm-related activities; a 6,000-sf head house, a shop building with a focus on research and development, which allows for washing and drying of breeder seed; and greenhouses.

The $18.5 million project was designed for LEED certification, incorporating various components such as electric vehicle charger stalls and stations, sustainable building materials, and an on-site stormwater basin.

“I am excited to see the new Woodland Innovation Center come to life,” said Matthew Shigihara, Stantec principal based in Sacramento and the project architect. “The new center was like creating a ‘mini city.’ Seeing that city take shape and come to life is inspirational, especially when you think about the importance of agriculture in our community. Sakata is planning for the future, and this new facility will help make our community a better place.”

Link to article: Sakata Seed unveils Woodland innovation center
Business | Davis Enterprises
October 12, 2018