BROOKINGS — SGS Crop Science, an international agricultural testing company with operations in Brookings and Aurora, has been purchased by one of its largest competitors.

On Monday, Eurofins Scientific announced an agreement to acquire the SGS laboratory in Brookings and SGS field research station in Aurora as well as the rest of SGS Crop Science operations in 14 countries.

The company, which employs approximately 120 people in Brookings County, was originally Midwest Seed Services in Brookings until it was purchased by the Swiss-based SGS in 2007. It moved to a new local headquarters near the Interstate 29/U.S. Highway 14 Bypass in 2017.

Eurofins, based in France, is a global testing company that employs more than 61,000 worldwide.

Eurofins officials said they expected no change in local employment from the acquisition.

SGS’s business is composed of agroscience contract research, agricultural input testing and precision farming and agronomy services. The company has 480 employees located in 14 countries in Europe, North America, South Africa and Brazil with revenues amounting to approximately $53 million in 2022.

The sale is subject to numerous local, national and international consultations and is expected to close in a few months.

Gilles Martin, CEO of Eurofins, released a statement that read: “We are very pleased to welcome SGS Crop Science’s teams to Eurofins. The acquisition further reinforces Eurofins’ service offering in agroscience contract research services and agro testing as well as its commitment to providing the best possible standard of scientific and regulatory support to its clients.”

Terms of the contract were not disclosed. 

Linehan is the Register’s managing editor and welcomes comments at jlinehan@brookingsregister.com.