Germinal announces £5m investment in grass seed site in England
Belfast-headquartered seed company Germinal has announced an investment of £5 million in expanded grass seed processing capacity at its site in England.
The investment in the site in Lincoln will fund purpose-built facilities housing new seed intake infrastructure, more than doubling seed cleaning and processing capacity.
This will improve quality assurance, reduce bottlenecks during peak harvest periods, and speed up turnaround times for customers across the UK and Ireland, Germinal said.
The company said this will ensure reliable supply of its grass and clover varieties.
The upgrade to the site will also improve dust control and enable indoor seed handling, which will create a "safer working environment" and remove weather related disruption, according to the business.
Germinal is also installing a 200kw solar PV micro-generation system on its new seed intake facility.
Its additional seed processing capacity will support more seed cleaning activity during daylight hours, enabling greater use of renewable power generated on-site at Lincoln.
Construction is expected to be completed by March 2027, with new cleaning and processing plant installed ahead of the 2027 harvest.
Commenting on the investment, operations manager of Germinal GB Matt Stevens said: "This investment is about strengthening every stage of our intake, cleaning and production operations.
"In doubling our cleaning capacity, we are not only increasing efficiency but also improving the consistency and quality of what we can deliver to our customers," Stevens added.
"It allows us to reduce production pressures during periods of peak demand and helps us respond more quickly to customers and create a more flexible system overall.
"Ultimately, this means a better service for our customers and a stronger, more resilient seed processing operation at Lincoln serving our entire business across the United Kingdom and Ireland," he said.
The announcement of the investment comes as Germinal and its parent company, Openfolde, "continues a period of growth and investment" following their 200th anniversary last year.
Germinal produces 50% of the grass seed grown in the UK, with approximately one-third of the UK's total production processed at its Lincoln base.
