History

Openfolde is a 6th generation business carrying long-held values that have enabled it to build successful companies that form the group today.

Read about our origins through to present day in a timeline highlighting key milestones and major events.

Timeline

  • 25 year old Samuel McCausland travels to Belfast and forms Samuel McCausland Ltd, the founding company of what is now The Openfolde Group.

    The company was originally a general merchant business, importing and exporting goods through the busy port of Belfast.

Germinal MCCausland seed warehouse building in Belfast 1825

  • McCausland’s was at the forefront of the growth of the Northern Irish Seed production industry which expanded dramatically in the first half of this period.

    At its peak, Northern Ireland was the largest ryegrass seed production area in the world, exporting seed across Europe and as far afield as Africa, North and South America and even Australia and New Zealand.

Close up of hands holding agricultural seed seed

  • The industry declined and moved overseas as quality standards rose. There is no longer any ryegrass seed grown in Ireland.

    The main temperate forage and turf seed production areas worldwide are now the Pacific Northwest of the USA, New Zealand and North Western Europe, particularly Denmark and Holland.

    McCausland’s expands into England in the 1960s and as the Northern Irish trade continued to decline, took over other, similar businesses in the local area.

    One of these takeovers leads to the formation of British Seed Houses in GB (now Germinal GB) and the renaming of the Holding company as Germinal Holdings Ltd.

Two Germinal flags with the Germinal logo and seedmark

  • Germinal Ireland is formed in 1982 and grows rapidly to become the market leader in forage seeds over 30 years.

    The world seed industry begins to rationalise as companies disappear or are taken over by the larger players.

    Germinal Holdings signs an agreement with the Welsh Plant Breeding Station at Aberystwyth University, supporting the plant breeding programmes and gaining worldwide marketing rights for the varieties of forage and turf species produced by the programmes.

Plant breeding researcher in greenhouse in IBERS

  • 2002 – Germinal Holdings takes a shareholding in Peter Cates Ltd (now Cates), a leading grain and seed production business based in Canterbury, New Zealand.

    2003 – Germinal New Zealand is formed to develop and market Germinal Holdings’ varieties in the New Zealand market.

    British Seed Houses expands its footprint and warehousing capacity at its Lincoln site in UK, consolidating production and distribution operations.

farmer walking with his dogs in field in New Zealand

  • British Seed Houses and Samuel McCausland Ltd are rebranded as Germinal GB and Germinal NI respectively, joining Germinal Ireland and Germinal New Zealand under the Germinal banner.

    Warehouse capacity further expanded at the Lincoln site in GB and the Rakaia site in New Zealand.

    The installation of fully automatic packing lines at both Germinal GB and Germinal Ireland dramatically increases capacity and speed of service.

    Launch of The Grass People ecommerce brand in 2017.

Two bags of lawn seed with The Grass People branding and "a bag full of living stuff' tagline

  • Renegotiation of the contract with Aberystwyth University leads to the team of plant breeders and field staff being directly employed by the Openfolde Group and embedded at the University.

    The R&D team is rebranded as Germinal Horizon and is based at Aberystwyth (Wales), and Wiltshire (England). 20% of the company’s employees are now engaged in R&D.

    The acquisition of an existing ecommerce brand, Lawnsmith.

    Further expansion of warehouse capacity at Germinal GB, to service growing demand from ecommerce.

    Relocation of head office to Belfast, NI after 50 years.

    Renaming of the holding company to Openfolde, to differentiate it from the Germinal brand and to better reflect its entrepreneurial nature and interest in new ventures and opportunities.

    The Openfolde Group now consists of Germinal GB, Germinal Ireland, Germinal Horizon, Cates, The Grass People, and Lawnsmith.

Brick arched entrance with Openfolde on the glass

  • Openfolde marks its bicentennial year with an event at the Titanic Building. Staff across the entire group come together to be part of the 200 year legacy of the company.

    Celebrations with international partners at Edinburgh Castle in October 2025.

    Marking two centuries of innovation in seed technology, the celebrations end in December with a Chairman’s Dinner at the Malmaison Hotel, Belfast, the building that served as the original seed warehouse in 1868.

    The launch of Germinal’s innovative Climate Smart forage ranges brings performance and sustainability to farmers and food producers.