Farm-raised trio launches agricultural engineering and design firm GroffJulius

Few regions are as agriculturally rich and diverse as South-central Pennsylvania. From sprawling dairy farms to vast grain fields to renowned snack food plants, the area is a hub for food and grain production and processing.

Brothers Collin and Ean Julius and business partner Taylor Groff saw a lack of agricultural general contractors who could provide large-scale turnkey solutions for the processing of commercial animal feed and grains. So they founded GroffJulius.

Changing the face of ag processing

Founded in 2021, GroffJulius is changing the way grain and feed are processed throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. At each Groff Julius job site, grain bins, conveyer belts, and loading areas tower above the ground. The Groff Julius team designs, models, and engineers from the ground up and manages the construction at every site.

Collin, Ean, and Taylor grew up on York County farms, giving them an intimate understanding of the challenges that the world of agriculture faces.

“We all shared a similar ethos in life and business and a bigger vision for the agricultural industry in the Mid-Atlantic,” Taylor says. “We knew the area needed a bigger contractor focused in agriculture. We knew there was a gap, and we found a great opportunity to start GroffJulius. We’ve been blessed with significant growth since then.”

Finding their place on the farm

Ean and Collin were raised on the family farm in Dover, where the GroffJulius office is nestled in the 1700s farmhouse in which their grandfather was born. The brothers always knew they wanted to work in agriculture.

“I wanted to become a farmer, but my grandfather said I needed to have a real job,” Ean says.

Their grandfather worked the farm full time for most of his life. At 101 years old, he still rides his four-wheeler around the grounds, handing out instructions to workers. Ean and Collin took his advice and pursued degrees in agricultural engineering.

When a grain or animal feed producer reaches out with a need, their farming backgrounds, coupled with their engineering expertise and experience, help them navigate all aspects of a project.

No two days are alike for the GroffJulius team.

“Every single project is a unique challenge,” Collin says. “We don’t do any two projects alike. Customers rarely bring a solution to us. They walk us around and bring us a challenge they need help solving. They are trusting us to pick the right solutions to hit their goals.”

‘Winning in our backyard’

Taylor’s focus at GroffJulius has been business development. Before the firm was founded, he spent years managing and scaling the businesses of his father, Steve Groff, which include Wyndridge Farm in Dallastown and Groff North America.

In just a couple of years, the team has expanded its operations across the Mid-Atlantic region, from New York to Virginia, and has plans to stretch farther. It has diversified from commercial animal feed processing into food production for humans with designs for commercial flour milling and snack food processing systems.

“It’s been rewarding to be pretty instrumental in human food infrastructure in the Mid-Atlantic,” Taylor says. “We follow grain from off the farmer’s field into the grain elevator, through facilities, to the human food side. We’ve really found great opportunities with great customers.”

Taylor, Collin, and Ean are in it for the long haul and look forward to seeing Groff Julius continue to grow and make a lasting impact on the commercial agriculture industry.

“Winning in our backyard, being strong at home; that is important to us,” Taylor says.