November, 1999
Brittingham Fruit Farms sold to Nourse, Indiana Berry
Brittingham Plant Farm’s remaining assets have been sold to two other
companies, Nourse Farms and Indiana Berry and Plant Company, in a deal announced
October 1.
The sale enables Nourse, based in Whatley, Mass., and Indiana Berry, headquartered in Huntingburg, Ind., to have equal access to the Brittingham customer database and the business name.
Sylvia and Wayne Robertson, former owners of Brittingham, decided to cease operation of the 54-year-old nursery business, because of financial and competitive disadvantages beyond their control. Brittingham produced strawberry, bramble, blueberry and asparagus plants.
“We just can’t get the big yields of other geographic locations and plant production systems. Our plants were always large, top quality plants but the Eastern Shore of Maryland does not have the climate to produce the volume of plants per acre needed to remain competitive in today’s marketplace,” said Wayne Robertson.
Nourse and Indiana Berry are both preparing to serve the former customers of Brittingham. The companies are preparing to contact those customers. They expect that almost all the varieties offered by Brittingham will be offered by at least one of the two purchasing firms.
Neither Indiana Berry nor Nourse will be operating from
the former Brittingham location in Salisbury, Maryland, but say they hope
to incorporate the customer base at their existing locations.
This type of joint purchase of a company by two unrelated competing firms
is a first in the small fruit industry, according to the firms. Sam Erwin
of Indiana Berry said he is “Sad to lose such a good competitor. They
(Brittingham) have been an asset to the small fruit growing industry and
their contribution will be missed. I hope our cooperation in this joint
purchase effort will provide the former Brittingham customers with the best
possible alternatives for their future planting stock purchases.”
Added Timothy Nourse of Nourse Farms: “We are looking forward to serving Brittingham’s customers. Wayne and Sylvia have developed a very loyal clientele over the years and we at Nourse Farms will do everything possible to continue to serve these customers with the same high quality service and products.
