For its 75th anniversary, the American group Unverferth buys the agricultural division of the manufacturer Orthman of Lexington in Nebraska.
A family group created in 1948, Unverferth first distinguished itself with its tie-rod wheel coupling systems, soil working tools and then transport tools before becoming interested in McCurdy trailers and transport solutions in the 1970s. . The Unverferth family will grow its workforce step by step by acquiring other specialist brands. It now has three production plants, including headquarters in Kalida, Ohio, Delphos (Ohio) and Shell Rock (Iowa), as well as eight sales and service branches.
Unverferth is today the owner of the brands Blue-Jet (fertilizer and nitrogen incorporator), Brent and Parker (ferries), Killbros (gravity dump trailers and ferries), Top Air (sprayers) and UM (ferry seeds and fertilizers, cutting carts, tillage tools, etc.). Having gradually become a heavyweight in the transport and fertilization of crops, the group will therefore be able to count on the offer of the manufacturer Orthman to expand its offer, which is already plethoric.
Since its inception in the mid-1960s, Orthman has had two factories in Lexington where the company builds, among other things, its tillage equipment, liquid fertilizer application equipment, strip till tools, cultivators and ridgers as well as seed drills. Known in France for its strip till devices marketed by Optill Diffusion, Orthman also manufactures DR undercarriages for John Deere precision seed drills. According to John McCoy, who will remain owner of the Orthman factory, the company has invested heavily in its Lexington factories in recent years, which will allow production to expand in the future and preserve employment.
