A California company is set to unveil plans this morning for a production center in Junction City that eventually could have as many as 75 employees.

Scott Deeter, president of Sacramento, Calif.-based Ventria Bioscience, will join government and economic development officials for a 9:30 a.m. event today at the Geary County Convention Center in Junction City.

Plans call for the company’s new bioprocessing center to be operational sometime next year. Farmers within 50 miles of the city would grow rice that has been genetically engineered using human genes, then used to make an experimental drug to treat diarrhea in children.

State agriculture leaders have said that farmers who grow the rice for Ventria would be guaranteed profits of $150 to $200 more per acre beyond profits from other crops.

Ventria’s efforts to open a center in northwest Missouri were dropped after people voiced concerns about growing genetically engineered crops. Ventria also looked into expanding operations in North Carolina, where it already grows some modified rice.