For what purpose did the narrator's employer establish the research community in the mountain country in the novel, Land of Milk and Honey?

The narrator's employer has established this "elite research community on a minor mountain at the Italian-French border" (6). When the narrator first learns about the mountain country online, she reads that its objective is "to bioengineer food crops capable of withstanding smog, all discoveries to be shared with the Italian government" (6).