The new business will continue to manufacture out of 3 sites distributing the full range of feeds to livestock businesses across the South West, Wales, the Midlands and North West of England.

“We are excited about the future for ourselves and our customers”, says Richard Massey, Chairman of Massey Bros (Feeds) Ltd. “This is an exceptional opportunity to bring together two successful family run businesses with very similar ideals, to utilise each others’ strengths and ensure the increased resources of the combined business continue to deliver outstanding quality and value to our customers.”

“For me this arrangement ticks all the boxes,” continues Bill Harper, Managing Director of Harpers Home Mix Ltd. “Our customers will continue to receive high quality, competitively priced feeds with leading edge technology, our dedicated staff have a secure and exciting future and I remain focussed on the key issues of helping to maintain and develop a modern, dynamic feed business.”

Both businesses will retain their trading names and although there will be integration of functions such as finance, research and product development, the sales staff and support staff across both businesses will remain.

“Our customers will see no change in the staff they currently deal with,” comments Mr Harper, “or indeed the quality of the product and service they receive. We are fortunate to have good teams across both businesses and I know they are excited with the future opportunities this merger provides. We at Harpers have developed many new products over the years and here there are real synergies with Massey’s who are leaders in their region in terms of cow nutrition, an area run by highly respected nutritionist David Wilde who will be known to many.”

Bill Harper will be joining Richard and Kynan Massey on the board of Massey Bros (Feeds) Ltd for a period of at least three years. Similarly Richard and Kynan Massey will be joining Bill Harper and Glen Johns on the board of Harpers Home Mix Ltd.

“We are living in exciting times for agriculture,” concludes Mr Massey. “We are becoming more valued as an industry by the consumer and our supply chains are becoming more robust as food security and supply continue to climb up the retail and political agendas. However we live in a global economy and we must adapt and grow to ensure in turn that our farming industry in the UK continues to have the latest technology at its disposal combined with value and choice. Our merger takes a significant step along this path, but as family businesses we will ensure our service to our customers remains at our core."