LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Dow AgroSciences LLC announced today it will grow seed corn, soybean and sunflower crops on Kaua'i beginning later this year.

Through its subsidiary, Mycogen Seeds, the company will lease 3,400 acres of Gay & Robinson Inc. former sugar land between Hanapepe and Waimea, on Kaua'i's west side.

Mycogen, which currently operates on Moloka'i, will begin hiring Kaua'i workers in a month to six weeks, but wouldn't say how many people it expects to employ, Dow officials said in a telephone press conference this afternoon.

The seed crops will be both genetically modified and conventional, but will not include pharmaceutical, or "bio-pharm" crops, said Adolph Helm, with Dow's Mycogen operation on Moloka'i.

Dow is "deeply committed ... for the long term to the Kaua'i community and to the general long term financial stability to the economy," Helm said.

"The agreement with Dow AgroSciences supports a growing and viable sector of the agricultural industry in Hawai'i that will stimulate the economy, thereby benefiting the Kaua'i community, while also perpetuating Gay & Robinson's long-standing commitment to keeping our lands in agriculture," E.Alan Kennett, Gay & Robinson president, said in a written statement. Gay & Robinson announced last fall that its last sugar harvest would occur in 2010 and that it was looking to lease some of its land to other agricultural operations.

Another seed corn company, Monsanto, announced in March that would shut down its seed corn research operation on Kaua'i and lay off all 30 employees.

Monsanto officials couldn't be reached for comment today about whether it has decided whether to leave Kaua'i entirely.

Meanwhile, Pacific West Energy LLC of Vancouver, Wash., remains interested in potentially leasing and retrofitting the Gay & Robinson sugar plant into an ethanol production facility, Pacific West President William Maloney said today.

Kaua'i Island Utility Co-operative announced in December that is would work with Pacific West on the ethanol project.