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Business in Barberton makes deal with company based in Switzerland. Local jobs won't be affected
By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, Oct 31, 2008
A well-known horticulture company based in Barberton is trimming back its business.
Yoder Brothers Inc. announced this week that it is selling its pot and garden chrysanthemums and aster genetics and breeding programs to Syngenta Flowers, a worldwide agriculture company headquartered in Switzerland.
The deal includes the rights to the Yoder brand name and ''product assets less real-estate necessary to deliver current and new varieties to the market,'' a Yoder Brothers statement said.
The chairman of the company, G. Ramsey Yoder, was out of the office Thursday visiting company facilities. ''This is a major move for the company and it's important to communicate to employees to keep everyone informed,'' said Christine Kelleher, a Yoder spokesperson. ''There will be no job losses in Barberton, where 50 people are employed.''
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
As for the price, mum's the word. Terms were not disclosed.
In 2007, the two crops accounted for about $24 million in sales for Yoder Brothers, according to Syngenta.
Syngenta Flowers sells a variety of potted and bedding flowers worldwide, with about $272 million last year in flower sales. The global company's total sales in 2007 were about $9.2 billion.
Yoder Brothers has been a corporate sponsor for the entire 17-year history of Barberton's annual fall Mum Fest, which this year featured 22 varieties of chrysanthemums donated by the company.
Lisa McLean, beautification manager for the city and chairwoman of the annual festival, said it's unclear whether the announcement will affect the company's involvement in future Mum Fests.
This year, she said, the company donated about 14,000 mum cuttings for gardens that their experts helped design along Barberton's Lake Anna.
''They've been outstanding to us,'' McLean said. ''They've lent expertise as far as growing, and if we have problems with the mums, they tell us what to do.''
Although Barberton is corporate headquarters for Yoder Brothers, the company hasn't grown flowers in town since closing the last Barberton greenhouse in 1978.
Yoder Brothers has about 1,100 employees, including those at corporate headquarters and at breeding and production facilities in Fort Myers and Parrish, Fla.; Smoketown, Pa.; Leamington, Ontario, Canada; and two locations in Colombia.
As part of the sale, about 150 Yoder employees will join Syngenta Flowers.
Kelleher said those jobs are in Florida and are the only jobs affected by the sale. ''At most, the physical move for the 150 employees, will be from one side of the farm to the other.''
Yoder Brothers will continue to sell and service Yoder-brand mums and asters in the United States and Canada.
The Barberton company also will continue to produce and sell Green Leaf Perennials, Keepsake Azaleas, TradeWinds Hibiscus, cut mums, Sun Parasol Mandevilla, Poulsen Roses, hydrangeas, poinsettias, flowering products from its Yoder Canada division and brokered products.
The remaining entities will continue to do business under the Yoder name until July 2009, when Yoder Brothers will switch to a new name ''that better reflects its remaining businesses,'' the company statement said.
''We are excited about this change,'' Yoder Brothers President Bill Rasbach said in the statement. ''It allows us to transfer our mum and aster assets to Syngenta, who can use them to build their market position in North America and Europe, while allowing us to keep a position in the market through our sales activity.
''More importantly, it allows the new Yoder to take a new direction in the marketplace. We look forward to being known as something other than the mum company.''
The company was founded nearly 90 years ago by two Mennonite brothers, Menno and Ira Yoder. Menno Yoder's grandson, G. Ramsey Yoder, heads the firm today.
The company's headquarters are in a former dairy barn on the O.C. Barber estate, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
A well-known horticulture company based in Barberton is trimming back its business.
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