SALFORD, Ont. — Salford Group, a manufacturer of tillage, seeding and fertilizer application equipment, is expanding its tillage product line through the acquisition of AerWay advanced aeration products, manufactured by SAF-Holland Canada Ltd.
“We are very pleased to bring AerWay products under the Salford tillage umbrella,” said Geof Gray, chief executive officer of Salford Group. “The acquisition of AerWay expands our niche tillage product lineup to offer more vertical tillage and pastureland management tools that appeal to our livestock and mixed farming customers.”
Gray acknowledged that Salford and AerWay share many objectives as well. “Both companies focus on innovative designs to meet customer needs, create tools with multi-use capabilities and emphasize soil productivity and management, with vertical tillage/minimal disturbance tools and topdressing or cover cropping being an important part of that,” he said.
Gray also noted that Salford and AerWay have worked well together in the past as AerWay tools already use Salford harrow packages and AerWay is capable of carrying Salford Valmar attachments. “Our plan is to continue collaborating for quality engineering in the future.”
AerWay comes to Salford from its manufacturer SAF-Holland Canada Limited who originally started selling AerWay in 1983. In 1982, Holland-Hitch acquired the distribution rights to a solid tine aeration device named Groundhog that was conceived in New Zealand by a farmer who had a serious compaction and water run off problem on his pastureland. While the original concept was excellent there were many changes needed and the new designed machine was named AerWay, which embodied the solid tine improvements.
Over the last 32 years AerWay has added many new features to meet the challenges of today's agricultural demands. It has expanded its product line, adding the CCT (Close Couple Tandem), ATS (Aeration Top-dress Seeder), and its most recent the Titan CTS (Complete Tillage System). In addition AerWay has a line of horticulture equipment for orchards and vineyards and turf equipment for the golf and sports turf market.
Kim Baechler, president of SAF-Holland Canada Limited says, “This is truly an exciting opportunity for the AerWay product line, and many of the employees that help build AerWay. Under Salford’s world class banner, continued investment in the AerWay design and manufacturing will be assured allowing the product to grow and help farmers and ranchers solve their unique problems”.
With close proximity to Salford Group’s Salford, Ont., headquarters, AerWay will continue to produce equipment in its Norwich, Ont., facility. Plans also include shared distribution centers to ensure the widest availability of all products globally. The Norwich facility will be the sixth manufacturing location for the Salford Group, adding to existing operations in Salford, Ontario, Osceola, Iowa, Cornelia, Ga., Elie, Man., and Omsk, Russia.
