Our Story
EAL AgriServices Group started in 2002, when Tim Ridgen set out with two long-standing contacts, David and Doug — three completely separate families backing one business. That partnership is still the foundation of how we operate today: independent, but genuinely close, after more than two decades of working together.
Tim’s own background is Canterbury through and through — raised on a family farm at Greendale, before a career in rural servicing brought him to Ellesmere. It was there he met the Turner family, dairy farmers on Rakaia Island, and helped grow their operation into one of the first large-scale dairy farms in Canterbury. That relationship has lasted more than 25 years, and the Turner family remain close partners and advisors to EAL today.
That’s the EAL story in a sentence: genuine relationships, built over decades, that turn into a business people trust.
What we do
Our core business is baling and cartage — everything else we do, from mowing to cultivation to supplementary feed, exists to support it. We built our name on bale stacks: a smarter, more cost-effective alternative to individually wrapped baleage that takes real expertise to get right, and 25 years of doing exactly that.
How we work
We harvest based on what the plant is telling us, not what the clock says. That’s why independent auditors consistently rate our silage as hitting the ideal dry-matter range — because we’re prepared to wait the extra hour and a half for the right moment, even when it costs us more to do it.
It’s the same standard across everything we do: clean machinery, well-presented staff, and people who turn up when they say they will. It’s not flashy. It’s just done properly, every time.
Looking Forward
Our Team
Tim
Mike
