John J. McNee-Founder The company was founded in 1971 by John McNee, 1st. generation Irishman from New York who moved to Puerto Rico in 1951 for its warm climate. He started the business by handpacking seeds in coin envelopes. That tedious chore was dropped in 1975 when he contracted with New York based  Page Seed Company to package seeds exclusively for the Puerto Rico market. Some of the varieties are native seeds, others are from the U.S., but the packaging was geared toward the Puerto Rican and Caribbean consumers.