Monsanto Company, a St. Louis-based agricultural company, which purchased DeKalb Genetics Corp. in 1998, will close the doors of its DeKalb facility.

By the end of the year, most of the company’s 65 remaining employees will be relocated to the company’s Waterman plant, said Ben Kampelman, a spokesman for Monsanto. Agricultural research is the chief function of the Waterman site.

“Our DeKalb site, right now, is underutilized,” Kampelman said.

The DeKalb facility normally could support 450 workers, but through various business decisions, the company was under the mark, Kampelman said.

Ten employees will not be moved to the new facility. The reduction in staff took place gradually.

The company will spend $3.5 million to expand the manufacturing and research facilities of the Waterman facility, Kampelman said.

The future of the DeKalb building itself is undecided.

Monsanto has started to accept bids for the building, but hasn’t received anything specific yet, Kampelman said.

Earlier this month, Monsanto reported losing $97 million for the fiscal first quarter, despite increasing 22 percent in quarterly sales.

DeKalb Genetics was founded in 1917 and develops agricultural seed products and hybrid swine breeding stock.

Monsanto mainly deals in agricultural research of seed and chemicals. When the company bought DeKalb Genetics, the focus changed to bio-technology, Kampelman said.

Monsanto employs 2,000 employees worldwide.