MarCo Manufacturing Company, LLC was chartered in the winter of 1999-2000 at Bennettsville, South Carolina.  The organization is committed to providing superior technology for growing, harvesting, handling and curing high-quality US grown tobacco.  The founder, president and CEO of MarCo Manufacturing Company is Tom Pharr, who established a reputation for integrity and innovation during a distinguished 25-year career at Powell Manufacturing Company, concluding that career with 8 years as its president. 

 MarCo began life as a manufacturer and supplier of high quality heat exchangers for flue-cured growers.  This work was done in conjunction with Vencon-Varsos, a leading Greek company specializing in flue-cured tobacco mechanization equipment.  Vencon-Varsos, under the trade name Ventobacco, continues as an exclusive partner with MarCo.

 During the next few years MarCo added many items for the flu-cured growers, specializing in equipment and service parts for curing, including designing and manufacturing a state-of-the-art curing barn. 

 In the Spring of 2005, MarCo purchased the name and intellectual property of Powell Manufacturing Company, which had ceased operation in 2003.  Subsequent to that purchase, MarCo has produced three different burley tobacco harvesters, based on Powell’s proven design, and markets them under the Powell name. 

 In 2008, MarCo introduced an extensive line of service parts for Powell Generation III and Generation IV flue-cured harvesters and looks forward to the possibility of introducing a new generation of Powell harvester for flue-cured growers.

 MarCo Manufacturing Company is dedicated to tobacco mechanization and believes that the future of US tobacco is positive.