Proud of our heritage

1871 -Germains was founded by Eugene Germain, a Swiss Pioneer who settled in Los Angeles, California in his early twenties.

1884 – Germain opened a Seed & Bulb House where he became a highly successful seed producer for commercial growers. By 1898, Germains earned the reputation of being the “most complete seed store in the west.”

1930s -By the end of the end of the 30s, Germain owned and operated sixteen retail stores and nurseries in both California and Arizona.

1945 – Germains established a Rose Breeding Division that quickly earned national and international recognition as one of the leading growers and hybridizers in the nation.

1950s – Research and development always played an important part in the Company’s thinking. In the early 1950s, the Filcoat Processed Seed Division formed. Germains was the first to introduce pelleted seed into the American market and with the proven agronomic benefit to coated seed; the Division played an ever-increasing role in commercial agriculture, both nationally and internationally.

1960s – Germains introduced the first pellet for sugar beet seed to the U.S. market. Germains (UK) Limited was formed and a Filcoat Processed Seed plant was established to serve the UK and Continental European markets. After three years of pelleted sugar beet trials organised by British Sugar, Germains became British Sugar’s recommended pellet of choice.

1980s – The company continued to diversify which led to the introduction of its first light weight vegetable seed pellets to the U.S. market. Due to the high demand, Germains established a production facility in Salinas, California dedicated to seed treatments. The plant later moved to its current location in Gilroy, California.

1990 – Germains was acquired by Associated British Foods plc; a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £12.8bn. All seed treatment divisions in the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, UK and US were acquired and brought under a single unified name; Germain’s Technology Group.

1990s – Germains introduced the seed priming treatment, Advantage, for sugar beet. The seed priming technology later expanded to include vegetable and horticulture crops.

2000s – Germains opened and continues to operate a state-of-the-art Research and Development facility in King’s Lynn, UK. Germains has also established three additional laboratories in the UK, Netherlands and the United States in recent years.

2010 – Germains, rebranded as Germains Seed Technology, carrying on the vision that has been the foundation of our success for 145 years; We Maximize Nature’s Potential.

2013 – Xbeet® plus introduced to the UK Sugar Industry. Xbeet plus is a born performer in the field; optimizing synergies with the innovative priming technology, Xbeet, to create an enhanced primed sugar beet seed pellet.

2015 – New research laboratory opens at Centrum, Norwich Research Park’s research, innovation, and business hub, accommodates senior members of Germains’ Research and Development team with a strategic focus on the science of seed priming and crop development.

2017 – In addition to the 2015 launch of ProBio® gopure® certified organic seed disinfection process, Germains North America added a new innovative organic treatment to its health technology product line; ProBio® SafeGuard®.

2019 – Germains celebrated 50 years at its facility in Aalten, the Netherlands and opened a new organic processing facility and research lab in Gilroy, California, USA.

2020 – Marked the product launch of Xbeet® enrich 200, a cutting-edge sugar beet seed technology, that promotes early plant growth and crop development.  

2021 – Germains Seed Technology kicked off a year-long celebration of the company’s 150th anniversary—a truly remarkable milestone for a company that’s been dedicated to innovating solutions since 1871.