A 45 yearlong dedication to restoring nature

From inventor of the "three-wheeled ditch slope mower", to full-range supplier of water maintenance machines

"Up to the knees in water and wielding a scythe or a pitchfork" - towards the end of the 1950s, this is what the clearing out and maintenance of ditches, trenches and other watercourses was all about. Anton Berkenheger, farmer and chairman of the Meersbach Water Supply and Land Conservation Association in the Haren/Ems district, set himself the goal of making this type of work easier to manage and far more effective. Some form of mechanisation was therefore called for and in 1963, Anton Berkenheger was thus awarded patent rights on his first invention: a three-wheeled, ditch slope mower. He thereby laid the foundation work for what today has grown into a fully hydraulic ditch mowing and cleaning range of machines. In 1964, Anton Berkenheger, farmer, Gerhard Knoll, civil engineering contractor and Josef Göcking, political economist, founded the Anton Berkenheger & Co. KG in Haren-Erika, with a total of 4 employees. Soon after in 1968, the young, successful company was already in need of larger headquarters and moved to a production hall in Harener Hafen. 1977 then saw the new construction of the corporate headquarters in Haren-Emmeln. At first there were 1500 square metres for the production workshops, the storage facilities and the offices. A mere seven years later, a further 1500 square metres were added on. The production range too underwent a consistent expansion: automotive, self-propelling slope mowers, attachments for tractors, mowing boats, rough-terrain forklift trucks and spiral-bladed lawn mowers were marketed and sold throughout Germany.

In the middle of the 1980s, the Berkenheger name proudly stood for innovative and comprehensive, water maintenance solutions.

The early 1990s furthermore saw a clearly increasing interest in the "BERKY" brand machines also from countries abroad.

At Anton Berkenheger GmbH & Co. KG 35 we currently have a staff of 35 employees, proud to belong with and work for the worldwide leading manufacturer of water maintenance machines.