Herschel Parts will continue their 137-year legacy of manufacturing and distribution of high-quality agricultural products.
Bourgault Tillage Tools, a privately owned Canadian parts manufacturer, has become the new owner of Herschel Parts. Bourgault Tillage Tools has designed and manufactured high quality agricultural parts for over 30 years.
The head office is in St. Brieux, where they employ 85 employees and have a dealer/distributor network delivering products throughout North America and agricultural communities around the world.
Herschel Parts, based out of Iowa, will gain direction from Ryan Olson who has recently been announced as the new company’s president. Ryan comes from a fifth-generation farm and is the Vice President and General Manager of Bourgault Tillage Tools. He is also part of the Bourgault Family succession plan and moved to St. Brieux with his family over five years ago to support the company’s growth plans.
“Our objective is to build two world-class manufacturing facilities and to leverage the combined strengths of both companies to bring our best product and service offerings to farmers, dealers, distributors and OEM customers,” explained Olson.
As part of the sale, Bourgault Tillage Tools has onboarded all the employees at Herschel Parts.
“When we visited Herschel Parts and met the leadership team, it was as though we had known each other for years. Now that the acquisition is complete, it will be a pleasure working the Herschel team to roll out a sales and marketing strategy for future growth and success.”, said Patrick Yeager, Director of Sales and Marketing for Bourgault Tillage Tools.
Bourgault Tillage Tools promote their core values which are centered around family and community.
“We are investing in Herschel to create a bright future and opportunities for our children and grandchildren and to continue to expand our communities.”, described Joseph Bourgault, President and CEO of Bourgault Tillage Tools. “St. Brieux is a great community, and we understand that we are going to be going to a great community in Indianola as well.”
Both Bourgault Tillage Tools and Herschel Parts pride themselves on bringing innovative ideas and high-quality parts that will deliver the lowest cost per acre to the farmer.
“Working with BTT, it is really going to enhance our capabilities for innovation and new product development. The history here at Herschel plays a crucial part in our future. We need to look back at that history, learn from it, and know that we have to keep innovating," said Mark Collins, Marketing Manager of Herschel Parts.
The formal announcement of the acquisition has been timed ahead of the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, where they will be displaying together for the first time. Carl Christensen, Vice President of Herschel Parts, shared his excitement around the launch. “We wanted to make sure that the announcement included the new look for Herschel Parts. The logo and marketing are intended to respect the traditions of Herschel Parts, while updating it to focus on our future. This has been a challenging six months for our team, and we are all excited to see the tradition continue. Being able to partner with a company like BTT that shares our values of serving our customers, team members and communities to the best of our ability adds to that excitement.”