The Morton’s business including the commercial team and the range of products associated with Morton’s will not change under Fane Valley’s ownership.
Germinal is proud to be a market leader in the UK and Ireland and a well–known name in the worldwide forage and amenity seed industry; something Germinal are keen to build on having invested heavily in R & D and production infrastructure over the last few years. The sale of the Morton’s brand allows Germinal to concentrate on their core business of new variety development, seed production, marketing and wholesale sales.
Strategic relationships
Germinal has key relationships with the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS, Aberystwyth University) in Wales, and TEAGASC, the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland. Along with partnerships with many overseas plant breeders, these relationships form an important part of Germinal’s future research and development programmes, investing in sustainable intensification through plant breeding.
The recent investments by Germinal include a £1.5 million state-of-the-art mixing, packing and palletising facility and additional storage capacity at Germinal GB, in addition to the establishment of its own Research Station in southern England to spearhead a new programme of trials and variety development. Installation of a similar mixing, packing and palletising facility is underway in Germinal Ireland, and investment continues in plant breeding, both at IBERS and at Germinal’s own site in New Zealand.
Germinal group managing director William Gilbert explains: “Our success is built on research, variety development, science and knowledge; this is what drives our products and our business. We feel that this strategic move will result in success for all involved and allow Germinal to focus on delivering the high standards expected of the Germinal brand to our customers and other partners.”