BROKEN BOW, NE – Arrow Seed of Broken Bow has sold to NativeSeed Group, a collection of eleven brands spanning Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, California, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Washington, and Utah. Jim and Deb Girardin told KCNI/KBBN the deal was completed last week.
Arrow Seed was established in Broken Bow in 1946, and has been a generational family business for much of its history. Jim Girardin first answered the one question that he has found is most prominent: ‘Why would you do that?’
“It’s to set Arrow Seed up for the future, quite frankly, and a strong future. The ag environment is changing rapidly, our business is changing. To keep Arrow Seed Competitive and relevant in today’s market we felt like this would be a really good opportunity for Arrow Seed,” said Girardin.
Adding to the risk minimization brought to Arrow Seed, Girardin added that the NativeSeed Group appreciated their work with oats, rye, small grains, and cover crops and the diversity that brings.
As far as changes that will be noticed by customers? The Girardins described it as fairly invisible, saying that no changes will be made with product lines, employees, or even their retail store which the two believe will be the only one as a part of the brand group.
“The thing that we really liked is they want to stay in Broken Bow. They want to retain the Arrow Seed brand. All of the companies in the group have their own brands, the same brand that they had before they were purchased,” said Jim.
When asked about advantages the move brings, the Girardins used purchase examples like bags, pallets, and shrink wrap being in the millions as a group rather than the thousands as a company. Stable production and seed supply was an obvious reason as well.
“I see a little bit more stable production. Seed supplies in a bigger pool of companies, I think that will help level off some of the ups and downs we see as a small seed company in a big industry,” added Jim.
The full visit with Jim and Deb Girardin on the Get Up and Go Breakfast Show can be viewed below
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