Ferry Morse is closing down its operations around the country following the company’s sale to Seed Holdings on May 18. The company was previously owned by Jiffy.

Workers at the Ferry Morse Seed Factory in Kentucky learned the news May 18 upon returning from lunch. The factory had been in operation for the past 53 years. Workers at the White City, Ore. plant were also laid off May 18, according to the Portland Business Journal.

The Ferry Morse Seed Co., which started off as a seed-by-mail business in 1856, laid off about half of its workers on May 18, and plans to terminate the other 200 by the end of the year, reports Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly.