GRIMME was started by Franz ’ s great grandfather , Franz Carl Heinrich Grimme . He took over the family forging business which had been started in 1811 . His grandfather expanded the small business to include a hardware and agricultural machinery business . The first brands were , among others , Fendt , Lanz , Porsche and Niemeyer . Franz ’ s father , who was also called Franz , took over the company in 1930 and experimented from the start with machines to make the potato harvest easier . With two journeymen , the starting signal for the agricultural machinery factory was given in 1936 . Some of the early innovations include : 1937 , the first harvester designed as a horse-driven machine , called “ Komet ”. 1949 , the horse-trailed windrower , Type GV 49 , is introduced . 1952 , the first manure spreader , called “ Universal ”, is built . 1956 , the first potato bunker harvester , a single-row machine , also called “ Universal ”.

In 1966 , they created the single-row potato harvester , with which they became the market leader in Germany in the same year . At the same time , Franz decided that they would concentrate 100 % on the potato , in contrast to many other manufacturers who massively expanded their product range . This proved a stroke of genius , allowing them to fully transfer their passion to their core products , to both build and maintain the world leading position they enjoy today . Grimme machinery is sold in more than 120 countries .

Although Grimme has been going for some 160 years , they have only been in the UK since 1993 . They set up to provide support to an existing dealer network throughout the UK . Now , they work with both dealer networks and have their own retail outlets in Lincolnshire , Shropshire , Yorkshire and Scotland . UK Head Office was originally at Sleaford , but moved to

Swineshead in Boston . World HQ is still in Damme in Germany .

I recently met up with Adam Johnson , head of UK marketing for Grimme . Adam , at 33 , is a pivotal part of what is a young management team led by Patrick Graf Grote who , at 31 , is one of the youngest MDs in the UK . This is following Grimme ’ s tradition of developing young management teams to ensure fresh thinking , innovation , and business development . The current MD , Franz , was only 34 when he took on the reins of the company in 1980 .

Adam has been with Grimme since 2010 . He is originally an engineer , starting out working for Russell ’ s in their parts department , as there were no openings for engineering apprenticeships at that time . An opportunity came along to join Ripon Farm Services , where he did a full apprenticeship as well as an engineering course at Askham Bryan College . Whilst studying at Askham as part of the course , he did a work placement at Grimme , Dunnington . Grimme were so impressed with his enthusiasm and work ethic that they made him an offer he just could not refuse . He spent five years as an engineer and got to know every machine inside out . The management then came to him and asked if he fancied doing a spot of marketing . He thought well , why not , could be interesting . He initially started as a marketing assistant and Grimme paid for him to study CIM diploma in marketing . It meant surrendering his weekends for three years but was well worth it . His technical knowledge has certainly stood him in good stead for marketing , being able to appreciate both the farming and production sides of the business . Grimme strongly believe in investing in their people and very soon he was promoted to UK marketing manager . Adam ’ s role has grown considerably with the advent of new product lines etc and in the spirit of development to support Adam and the marketing side , Claire Anderson

is joining the team following a successful job placement from Harper Adams University .

Grimme have a very progressive and forward-thinking approach . Their Yorkshire depot at Dunnington , where Adam has continued to be based at , was established in 2010 when they took over part of an old ground care depot with Portacabins for offices ; eventually they took over the whole site . However , with the success of the depot , they simply outgrew the premises . There was a clear need to either look for new premises or have their own purpose-built ones . The site of a previous pig farm was found at Market Weighton . It was an ideal location for transport and to service Yorkshire and surrounding areas . Being a 4.5 acre site , it allowed Grimme to put up their own purpose-made building in line with their corporate design . The land was acquired in 2019 , demolition and site clearance started in 2020 . The build took only 10 months . As you can see from the photographs , the £ 3 million depot really is a state-of-the-art building that will certainly future-proof the business .

The purpose made design has really enabled Grimme Yorkshire to move up a gear . The huge workshop can accommodate all sizes of machinery comfortably and up to four large harvesters at any one time . Working on these pieces of machinery is made considerably easier by the new 5-ton overhead crane . Keeping farmers going at drilling , harvesting times , etc , is paramount , which demands there is a comprehensive stock of spares . Market Weighton really excels here , with more than a million pounds worth of parts in stock , covering around 5000 lines ! This means supporting their current customer base of over 300 farms , covering some 15,000 hectares is easily

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