Farm equipment manufacturer Salford Group is on a plan for growth. The company, best known for its tillage and seeding equipment, has in the past 12 months acquired two other companies—BBI Spreaders, which makes spinner spreaders, and Valmar, maker of air boom spreaders.

With these acquisitions, Salford says it will be the only Original Engineering Manufacturer (OEM) company to produce broadcast spinner spreader, pneumatic boom spreader and drill type granular fertilizer application equipment in North America.

Farm Industry News was invited to the company’s headquarters in Salford, Ontario, to learn more about the news and get a sneak peek of new equipment it will unveil this fall. It was the first meeting where all three companies met publically for the first time.

“We want to be a one-stop shop,” says Salford Group president Geof Gray at the media event in May. “BBI makes spinner spreaders. Valmar makes the smaller airboom spreaders, and we do the ground-engaging tools. Now we can offer a full line for the farmer that will reduce the number of passes and time required to complete field operations.”

You might also like:

Gray says the merging of three companies will allow for faster product development and product innovation, a trait that Salford has been known since 1978, when engineer Jake Rozendaal founded the company in his welding shop. 

“Being a small company you have to be innovative to survive,” says Gray. “We are able to adapt to changes in the marketplace faster than the bigger companies. Farms are getting bigger, so we’ve made equipment bigger, faster, and more efficient. So by focusing on that, we are able to grow with agriculture economy.”

He says since just October 2014, Salford has expanded its tillage and air seeder business into the fertilizer application and cover crop markets. “To farmers we offer choice, complete tillage and now able to offer a complete application line, whether they are looking for spinner spreaders, boom spreaders, or subsoil application equipment.

Gray says another benefit of bringing together three companies is combined resources. “Smaller companies like BBI and Valmar have a lot of good ideas but don’t have the marketing channels. So we can help them get products to market quicker and provide engineering support to design products to help farmers be more efficient and more profitable.”

Here are more details on these deals and a sneak peek of products Salford Group will unveil this fall.