Cargill

Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational corporation that trades, purchases and distributes grain and other agricultural commodities, such as palm oil; trades in energy, steel and transport; raises livestock and produces feed; and produces food ingredients such as starch, glucose syrup, and vegetable oils and fats for use and resale by food manufacturers, the food service industry, and retailers. Cargill also has a large financial services arm that manages risks in the commodity markets for the company. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, the company was founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill. As of 2023, Cargill was the largest privately held company in the United States in terms of revenue. Cargill has been a subject of long-term and widespread scrutiny for a variety of issues, including child trafficking and child slave labor and other human rights abuses, union busting, ignoring worker safety during COVID-19, land grabbing, food contamination with mercury and E. coli, deforestation, air pollution, tax evasion, animal abuse, toxic spills, building on restorable wetlands, contributing to the antibiotic resistance crisis, and price fixing. In 2003, the company split off a portion of its financial operations into Black River Asset Management, a hedge fund with about $10 billion of assets and liabilities. It previously owned two-thirds of the shares of The Mosaic Company (sold off in 2011), a producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. The company supplies about 22% of the United States domestic meat market. It is the only US producer of Alberger process salt, which is used in the fast-food and prepared food industries. Cargill has remained a family-owned business, with family having connections to descendants of the founder owning over 90% of the company. In January 2023, Brian Sikes was appointed as president and CEO.