A company on Swett Road in Ridgeway has built an army of tiny insects that are used for pest control to help farmers and greenhouse operators produce crops – flowers, fruits, vegetables and cannabis.
Sierra Biological moved its operations to Ridgeway in May 2016. Casey Decker, the company’s CEO, founded the company in California. He was operating it in an out building at his home with his wife Nina.
They needed more room for the business. But real estate is very expensive in California. Decker had a big client at a greenhouse in Canada just over the border from Western New York. He also had a customer in Buffalo.
Decker scouted sites in WNY and settled on a former collision shop on Swett Road in Ridgeway. The business has steadily grown since then, and currently has 10 employees. Decker put in climate-controlled rooms and has maxed out the space.
Sierra Biological is set to grow more. It has a new 10,800-square-foot facility next door and last month closed a deal with Beneficial Insectary Inc., where that company now has 100 percent equity of Sierra. Decker will stay on overseeing Sierra Biological.
Decker said the deal with Beneficial Insectary consolidates a long-standing and successful collaboration between the two companies, and gives Sierra Biological access to more products and technological to grow the business in Ridgeway.
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