A brand of air seeding equipment dating back almost five decades in North Dakota and beyond is poised to disappear in the 2024 model year.
Concord — a brand owned since 2021 by an arm of Swedish seeding, planting and tillage equipment firm Väderstad — will no longer be sold under the Concord name, the company said in a statement Thursday.
A “selection” of Concord’s products and design elements will be incorporated into the Väderstad-branded air seeder lineup “in the near future,” the company said.
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“We’re proud of Concord’s rich history, but the future is even more exciting,” Vaderstad’s vice-president of sales and marketing for North America, Jason Strobbe, said in the company’s statement.
“Concord customers and dealers have much to look forward to, including the reintroduction of some popular products — just under a different brand.”
The parent firm and its dealer network will continue to provide parts and service for past Concord customers, Väderstad said.
The Concord name dates back to 1977, when Howard and Brian Dahl — members of North Dakota’s ag equipment-making Melroe family — founded Concord, Inc. to make and sell air seeding equipment into the North American market.
The Concord business was sold to Case Corp. (now part of CNH Industrial) in 1996, while Concord assets and staff not included in that deal went to form a new company, Amity Technology.
Amity in 2011 formed a joint-venture company with ag equipment firm Agco, and Agco-Amity JV’s Amity Seeding arm revived the Concord brand in 2019. The joint venture was sold to Väderstad in 2021 and as a result its Concord, Amity, Wil-Rich and Wishek brands became part of North Dakota-based Väderstad, Inc.
Väderstad, whose other product lines include the Canadian-made Seed Hawk air drill brand it acquired in 2013, said it has since “gradually” gone through the process of integrating the Concord brand into the Väderstad product line.
After the Agco-Amity acquisition, Väderstad said it would “continue to innovate and provide the high-quality products and levels of service and support that the Concord name has been known for, in the quest to be the world’s leading partner for an outstanding emergence.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
