SAVANNAH, Ga. — Torgerson’s has joined JCB’s family of dealers throughout North America. Torgerson’s will now offer JCB equipment from its Great Falls and Lewiston, Mont., locations, potentially expanding to other locations in the future. Torgerson’s will both service and sell JCB agricultural equipment, including articulated telescopic handlers, wheel loaders and JCB’s skid steers and compact track loaders with side-entry doors.

Reier and Betsy Torgerson established their first store in Ethridge, Mont., in 1912. That first store operated as a mercantile, selling appliances, trucks and even airplanes until the 1960s, when the Torgersons switched their focus to farming equipment. As time passed, the company expanded to eight stores throughout Montana employing approximately 147 people. Today, Reier and Betsy’s great-grandson Brion Torgerson is the company’s CEO, continuing that family-owned tradition. According to Jed Bengtson, Torgerson’s vice president of sales and marketing, the company’s solid family focus is a major factor in its success over the past 100-plus years.

“The fact that Torgerson’s has remained family-owned all these years makes it really special,” Bengtson said. “That family atmosphere, our commitment to agriculture and strong customer relationships are all at the heart of what we do every day.”

JCB approached Torgerson’s in the fall of 2015. The company’s senior management then travelled to JCB’s North American headquarters in Savannah, Ga., to meet with JCB’s vice president of agriculture, Dan Schmidt, and its general manager for the western region, Steve Runyan.

“JCB’s culture and the way they do business seemed to really match our own approach,” Bengtson added. “We feel that adding the JCB product line will allow us to diversify our business, offer more products to our existing customer base and also attract new customers.”

Torgerson’s is committed to the production ag business, and JCB products will help fill in a few gaps in the company’s current offering. Because some agriculture products are also used in construction, Torgerson’s hopes to capture some of that market as well.

“JCB’s ag equipment is obviously the lowest-hanging fruit for us,” Bengtson said. “However, we’re also looking forward to getting our hands dirty with the smaller construction equipment. We’re also looking at JCB’s high-speed tractor, the Fastrac, and may carry it in the future.”

“Torgerson’s has an excellent reputation with its customer base throughout Montana,” said JCB’s Schmidt. “They’re the type of people with whom we truly enjoy doing business. Their long history of success as a family-owned business mirror’s JCB’s own, and we’re confident that they’ll do a tremendous job selling and servicing our equipment. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship that will help us build awareness of the JCB brand in the Western Region.”