75 Years Freudenberger
75 years ago today, on December 15, 1948, Siegfried Freudenberger (father of the current Managing Director Manfred Freudenberger) founded the company S. Freudenberger - Samen und Saaten as a sole proprietorship in Krefeld.
The first office was an old bedroom, spartanly furnished with a typewriter and scavenged office furniture. It soon became clear that larger premises with storage facilities had to be found. So in 1949, "Die Rheinlust" on the Rhine in Krefeld-Uerdingen, a former restaurant, was rented as the first company headquarters and the company moved in. The first seed lots were purchased with the help of a loan from military government allocations and the first mixtures were produced by hand with a shovel. Business was very promising, so that customers in the surrounding area were supplied, several employees were hired and turnover in 1949 already amounted to DM 1.1 million.
In 1952, the seed company became a general partnership when Fred Kafarnik (until 1968) joined as a personally liable partner. In 1958, Wilhelm Kutschera (until 1997) and Rolf Schüten (until 2003) joined as partners, until the company was converted into a limited partnership in 1968. Manfred Freudenberger joined his father Siegfried Freudenberger's company in 1960 after training in Canada and France (until 1989) and also joined the company as a personally liable partner in 1972.
Stefan te Neues, grandson of the former partner Wilhelm Kutschera, has been part of the management team since 1998. René Freudenberger, son of Manfred Freudenberger, joined the management team at the end of 2014.
The company continued to grow over the years and the storage capacity of the rented buildings was no longer sufficient, so new buildings with larger storage areas had to be found and rented time and again. In the 1970s, a plot of land was acquired on the former site of the old airport in Krefeld-Gartenstadt. In several construction phases, the company's own buildings and warehouses were gradually built at the current company site, finally putting an end to the space problems.
After 75 years, we look back with pride at what has evolved from a one-man business with a hand truck, a shovel, a bicycle and a little entrepreneurial courage. Today, in the 3rd generation of family management, more than 230 employees work in administration, warehousing and production and take care of the production, trade and processing of seeds for customers all over the world, at the same location as 75 years ago.
THANK YOU to all employees, customers and partners who have accompanied us over the last 75 years! We already have a new goal in mind and will reach the next milestone together - here's to the next 25 years!