BLOOMINGTON, Minn., Jun 17, 2004 (PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX) -- The Toro Company today announced it will celebrate its 90th anniversary with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty around the theme, "Innovation Days." To mark the milestone in Toro's history, the company has put together demonstrations and displays to showcase its nine decades of innovation.

"The Toro Company has a long and rich heritage of providing innovative lawn and landscape products and services that meet our customers' changing needs," said Ken Melrose, The Toro Company's chairman and chief executive officer. "The integration of quality products with value-added services is a key driver in our business. Through our ongoing innovation we can also continue to provide growth and learning opportunities to our employees, creating a highly skilled workforce that's good for Toro and good for the state of Minnesota."

Since 1914, The Toro Company has helped reinvent the way landscapes are maintained and cared for with market-changing products and services. The company was the first to manufacture the two-row farm cultivator, 76-inch professional mower, snow thrower, bagging attachment for rotary mowers, flexible line trimmer and electric-start consumer lawn mowers.

Today at 9:30 a.m. at Toro's global headquarters in Bloomington, Minn., Pawlenty will join Melrose to address Toro employees and recognize its recent patent award recipients. At approximately 10:00 a.m. in the Toro backyard, Pawlenty will participate in demonstrations of the company's latest product offering to the consumer market. The company will also have a display of its vintage equipment dating back to the 1930s.

Toro will continue to expand upon its legacy of innovation by increasing its investment in engineering, research and development (ER&D). Last year, the company invested 2.8 percent of its sales, totaling $41.5 million, in ER&D. This year, the company increased its spending to 3.1 percent of sales, totaling $50 million.

The Toro Company manufactures some of the most well known brands in landscape maintenance solutions including Toro(R), Exmark(R), Lawn-Boy(R), Irritrol Systems(R), Lawn Genie(R) and Pope(R). In addition to the consumer market, Toro's products and services are used to help maintain and irrigate turf in the golf, sports and grounds, landscape contractor and agricultural irrigation markets. Today, Toro's solutions are used at 75 of the top 100 golf courses in the United States, as listed by Golf Digest. Toro's products and services are also used at global venues such as: the University of Notre Dame, the grounds at Walt Disney World Resort(R), the infield at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the courts at Wimbledon and the links at St. Andrew.

Additionally, Toro's history includes an important role with the Super Bowl -- participating in every game dating back to the first in 1966 -- as the company assists in developing proper playing turf for the game of football. Internationally, Toro's key customers include Valderrama in Spain, Telstra Stadium in Australia, Club Link in Canada, Le Stade de France, China's Mission Hills Golf Club and Korea's Seoul World Cup Stadium Park.

"This is an exciting time for the entire team at Toro," said Melrose. "We are experiencing financial success due to the innovative efforts and dedication of every member of the Toro family. As we look to the future, we will invest in key initiatives to ensure our sales growth outperforms the market, and we will continue to adapt and change to meet the unique needs of our global customers."

About The Toro Company:

The Toro Company , with $1.5 billion in sales annually, is a leading provider of outdoor maintenance and beautification products for home, recreation, and commercial landscapes around the world. Together with its distributors, Toro provides innovative products, agronomic expertise and exemplary service that helps consumers and professionals maintain their landscapes. Visit the company website at http://www.thetorocompany.com/ . Distributor information is available at 1-800-803-8676.

SOURCE The Toro Company

Dawn Felepe Klehr, Public Relations, of The Toro Company
952-887-8930, or mobile, 952-994-2177
dawn.klehr@toro.com

http://www.thetorocompany.com/