Growers Transplanting

What Growers Transplanting does

Growers Transplanting Inc (GTI), founded in 1981 and headquartered in Salinas, California, is a privately-held agricultural producer specializing in vegetable and fruit seedling production and automated field transplanting services. Operating 5.5 million+ square feet of greenhouse capacity across 9 California locations, the company produces billions of seedlings annually across 100+ plant varieties and serves field growers through a B2B sales motion. Its customer base spans conventional field growers, organic-certified produce growers, and export-quality crop producers, with distribution delivered via direct field services and greenhouse seedling delivery.

GTI's competitive position rests on a portfolio of proprietary technologies and capital infrastructure. The Automator, patented in the 1980s, remains the only automatic transplanting system available for year-round production in California and surrounding states, planting up to 2 acres per hour with minimal labor. The company was first in its industry to install 3.9 million square feet of under-bench heating systems (2003), adapt the AutoPlanter for tomato transplanting (2008), and deploy a mobile grafting unit with robotic technology across its network (2019). GTI also operates hydroponic growing capabilities and a dedicated 40-acre organic production property one mile from its conventional operations.

The business model combines seedling sales with field transplanting services delivered via direct sales. Revenue is generated through seedling and transplant production, mechanical transplanting services using proprietary equipment, grafting services, and dedicated organic production. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and appears to be negotiated contractually with enterprise growers. The company maintains multiple certifications including USDA Organic, CCOF Organic, Global GAP, QAI, EU certification, and US-Canada Organic Equivalency, supporting access to organic and export markets. Customer engagement is conducted through the company website, social media, and direct relationship-based sales; no public funding rounds, institutional investors, or M&A activity are disclosed.

Name

Growers Transplanting

Legal name

Growers Transplanting, Inc.

Website

https://growerstrans.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Seedling Production

NAICS

Nursery and Floriculture Production (11142), Food Crops Grown Under Cover (11141), Nursery and Tree Production (111421)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Propagation & Seedling/Plug Production (Vegetable Transplants, Tissue-Culture Liners) (AFAGAHAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Robotic Planting, Thinning & Transplanting Systems (AFAAAGAC), Greenhouse Fruit & Berry Production (Strawberries, Specialty Fruits) (AFAGAHAB), Transplanters (Vegetable, Tobacco, Rice) (AFAAABAD)

Keywords

• Vegetable seedling production
• Field transplanting services
• Greenhouse growing operations
• Grafting services
• Organic seedling production

Headquarters

HQ city

Salinas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Seedling and Transplant Production: Production and sale of vegetable and fruit seedlings with associated field transplanting services. The company grows billions of seedlings in compact, efficient controlled environment greenhouses and provides automated field transplanting services.
2. Field Transplanting Services: Mechanical transplanting services using proprietary equipment (Automator, AutoPlanter) at rates of up to 2 acres per hour. Services provided directly to field growers alongside crops including broccoli, romaine, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, leeks, onions, carrots, and tomatoes.
3. Grafting Services: Horticultural grafting technique joining rootstock and scions to produce enhanced plants with increased vigor, quality, yield, and pest/disease resistance.
4. Organic Production: Dedicated organic seedling and transplant production with 40 certified organic acres, serving customers with organic certifications.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Growers Transplanting Inc. (GTI) produces billions of vegetable and fruit seedlings in over 5.5 million square feet of controlled-environment greenhouses across nine California locations and provides automated field transplanting services to commercial growers using proprietary equipment. The company also offers horticultural grafting services, hydroponic growing solutions, and dedicated organic seedling production for USDA Organic certified operations.

Product overview

Growers Transplanting Inc (GTI) offers a unified portfolio centered on seedling production and transplanting services for the agricultural industry. The core offering consists of seedlings (young plants developed with over 250 years of combined horticultural expertise), grafting services (joining rootstock and scion tissues for enhanced vigor and disease resistance), and proprietary transplanting technologies including The Automator (patented in the 1980s) and AutoPlanter. These are supported by hydroponic growing solutions, organic production capabilities, and planning tools like the Plants Per Acre Calculator. The company has expanded from a 400,000 square foot operation to over 5.5 million square feet of greenhouse space over its 40-year history.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vegetable and Fruit Seedlings Young vegetable and fruit plants grown from seed in controlled-environment greenhouses and sold to field growers; produced in over 100 plant varieties.
• Grafting Services Horticultural grafting joining rootstock and scion tissues to produce enhanced plants with increased vigor, quality, yield, pest and disease resistance, and environmental stress tolerance.
• The Automator Proprietary patented transplanting technology capable of transplanting multiple seedling crops in a multitude of field conditions, enabling planting on virtually any bed configuration (as close as 2 inches) while minimizing labor costs and maximizing planting efficiency.
• AutoPlanter Automated transplanting technology adapted for use in tomato transplanting, allowing GTI to be first in the industry to deploy this equipment.
• Hydroponic Growing Solutions Modern hydroponic growing solutions that allow plants to grow where otherwise they could not, providing consistent high yields with faster growth, minimal pesticide use, and maximized growing space utilization.
• Organic Seedling Production Certified organic seedling production grown on 40 dedicated organic acres, providing USDA Organic, QAI, EU, and CCOF certified seedlings to growers needing organic-compliant starter plants.
• Field Transplanting Services Mechanical transplanting services using proprietary Automator and AutoPlanter equipment delivered directly at customer farms, achieving planting rates of up to 2 acres per hour with minimal labor across crops including broccoli, romaine, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, leeks, onions, carrots, and tomatoes.
• Berry Nursery Production Commercial nursery production of blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry plant starts for fruit growers expanding into the berry category.

Quantifiable outcome

• Planting rate of up to 2 acres per hour with automated transplanters
• +5 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Quality Assurance International (QAI)coreOthersQAI provides organic certification services. GTI has maintained certification in good standing for over 10 years. QAI also provides EU certification and US-Canada Organic Equivalency for GTI.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Speedling Incorporated: National vegetable transplant producer with operations across the U.S., focused on seedlings for field growers in similar crop families (lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes). Closest analog in scale and crop mix to GTI's seedling business.
• ForemostCo: Tropical plant propagator and young-plant producer, including grafted vegetable and fruit liners. Operates in a comparable high-volume, controlled-environment young-plant model with focus on grafting.
• Greenheart Farms: California-based nursery producing vegetable and ornamental seedlings for commercial growers. Competes with GTI across California field-grower accounts and overlapping core vegetable transplant categories.
• Berger (Nunhems/Bayer): Long-standing vegetable seedling producer serving commercial field growers with a similar transplant portfolio. Overlap is direct in core vegetable transplants; distinct in being embedded in a global seed/breeding parent (Bayer).
• Volm Companies: Supplier and producer serving the vegetable transplant industry with equipment, packaging, and seedling operations. Comparable through shared customer base of produce growers and overlap in vegetable transplant handling services.

Broad incumbents

• Ball Horticultural Company: Large diversified horticultural producer and breeder of seed and young plants for ornamentals and vegetables. Comparable technology/process stack (greenhouse propagation, grafting) but with a much broader ornamental and cut-flower portfolio.
• Sakata Seed America: Major vegetable seed breeder with downstream young-plant operations. Adjacent to GTI through crop overlap (broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes) and grower customers, but seed-breeding-led rather than transplanting-led.
• Syngenta (Vegetables): Global agricultural input giant with a dedicated Vegetables business (incl. Nunhems/Berger) covering seeds and seedlings for the same field-grower customer base. Overlaps via seedlings but operates more broadly across crop protection and seeds.

Emerging players

• Viscon Plant Technology: Supplier of automated plant handling, transplanting, and greenhouse robotics. Comparable through shared robotics-in-plant-handling capability; targets the same automation gap GTI addresses internally.
• Plenty (vertical farming / controlled environment produce): Indoor/vertical-farmed produce operator built on automated controlled-environment growing. Tangentially comparable to GTI in greenhouse automation and CEA processes; competes for attention/capital in protected agriculture rather than directly in vegetable transplanting.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Growers-Transplanting-Inc-203720773019660
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/growers-transplanting-inc-
• Instagraminstagram.com/growerstransplanting

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Growers Transplanting