About Us
Harlow Agricultural Merchants Ltd, or HAM as we are known to our friends, was founded in 1980 and has survived and prospered through some difficult years in farming guided by our two principal assets – our customers and our staff.
HAM is one of the leading independent, arable merchants in the region. Privately owned by its staff and local farmers HAM is focused on giving the best possible advice and service in the four key areas of Agro-chemicals, Fertiliser, Grain and Seed. We aim to add value to the businesses of our farmer customers by supplying their variable inputs – agrochemicals, fertiliser & seed – and buying back their grain, but to do so with a whole farm approach that means we are not just maximising sales but maximising the success of their business.
Based in Little Hallingbury just outside Bishops Stortford and within one mile of the Essex and Hertfordshire County border, Harlow Agricultural Merchants Ltd is well placed for communications with Junction 8 of the M11 and Stansted Airport just a few miles away. Whilst a large part of our business is within a 50 mile radius of headquarters, we have farmer customers and trading partners throughout the UK and in Europe.
The Company is best defined by its motto:
Small enough to care, Big enough to serve
Small Enough to Care
Small enough to be different from some of the large multinationals that seek to dominate agriculture. Harlow Agricultural Merchants Ltd started in 1980 when 13 individuals left one such big company and set up the new business in rented premises on the edge of Harlow.
Small enough to be owned by our own staff and local farmers and for our customers to deal with individuals and decision makers not with a faceless bureaucracy or main board based in another country.
Small enough to know that our customers always have a choice, to deal with us or to go elsewhere, and we work extra hard to make sure they stay with us.
Small enough to know that every member of staff is important and contributes to the strength of the overall team.
Big Enough to Serve
Big enough to be a significant player in the four arable fields of agrochemicals, fertiliser, grain & seed. Harlow Agricultural Merchants Ltd has strong links with all the major agrochemical manufacturers, with all the plant breeding companies, with all the major international fertiliser shippers and with all the key homes for arable produce in our trading areas.
Big enough to have the financial strength that is so critical in this day and age. Harlow Agricultural Merchants Ltd owns its own extensive site on the edge of Bishops Stortford with offices, warehouses and 40 acres of land and combines this with a strong balance sheet, sound credit insurance and responsible trading policies.
Big enough to bring a strong technical and innovatory contribution to our customers businesses. With our own in house trials on crops, agronomy and varieties and our development of many new areas such as industrial crops, Vistive oil production, renewable fertiliser and many others.