Past and Present...

1981

The Gripon family left France to settle in Saint-Urbain-Premier in Quebec (Canada), a quaint, small village located near Montréal. The Gripon family bought a grain farm to cultivate a 100 ha piece of land. With his son Thierry, Mr. Gripon used the grain cleaning equipment available on the farm to meet the needs of a few local producers.

1984

Mireille Raymond, a Saint-Urbain-Premier native and a farmer's daughter, joined the business that year. She contributed her administrative skills and agricultural know-how to help develop new markets jointly with Thierry Gripon.

1987

The company was involved mainly in seed processing operations (oat, barley, soy, etc.).

1988

Under the new entity Semences Gripon, the company began exporting soybean to Europe.

1990

Thierry Gripon and Mireille Raymond renewed efforts to maintain the company's growth rate and corner new markets on the international scene. In addition to obtaining new accreditations, they adopted new protocols, complied with new quality standards and established new contacts in Asia. At the end of that year, some 50 containers were shipped to Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Republic of Singapore, representing more than 1,000 tons of soybeans.

1993

The company made major investments in its head office for projects including building silos and warehouses and installing a second conditioning line. By acquiring the commercial rights of the Colibri variety of Natto soybeans, the company took the lead in exports of soybean intended for human consumption. Then the company started exporting more soybeans. At that same time, Mr. Rémi Gripon retired for a well-deserved rest.

1995

Through the involvement of its research and development service, the company cooperated on new technological innovation projects.

1996

Semences Gripon established new business relations with an American business firm to enter the Japanese market. At that time, the company took the lead in exports to Japan of soybean intended for human consumption.

1997

That year, the company started to work closely with Agriculture Canada by participating in a soybean research program.

1999

The company made a major investment in the automation of equipment at the head office.

2001

From then on, the company operated under the entity SG Ceresco Inc. In Roman mythology, Ceres is the goddess of agriculture, harvest and fertility.

2002

Ceresco officially opened a liaison office in Japan.

2007

The Japanese office was incorporated. Ceresco Marketing Inc. officially became a SG Ceresco subsidiary.

2011

In the last decade, Ceresco has achieved exceptional growth. The company now aims at cornering new markets such as Italy, Spain and other European countries. During the year, Ceresco established its own new research centre in Saint-Urbain-Premier. The company now owns more than 500 ha of farmland located in the fertile Montérégie region.