History

Cargill has a long history in the animal nutrition business. William W. "Will" Cargill, who started Cargill, Inc. in 1865, started selling feed in Lacrosse, Wisconsin (USA) about 1884. In the mid-1930s, John MacMillan, Jr. started selling manufactured feed under the Cargill name when he opened a new facility in Conrad, Montana. In 1939, a new feed mill was included in an upgrade of Cargill's Lennox, South Dakota grain elevator. That new feed plant, along with seven other facilities built over the next several years and the Conrad, Montana business, all started selling a new line of feed products called "Blue Square Feed."

In March 1941, Cargill purchased a facility just west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began marketing "Cargill Feeds" and "Du-All Feeds." At that time, there were two distinct groups within Cargill marketing feeds. In some areas, they were in direct competition with each other, a scenario that would be repeated several more times in Cargill's history as they built brands designed to serve diverse groups of customers.

Starting in November 1942, Cargill Feeds broadcast a barn dance every Saturday night on a Minneapolis radio station, featuring a group called the Red River Valley Gang.

Cargill, Inc. got serious about the feed business in October, 1945, when the company acquired Nutrena Mills, Incorporated, a company that had been in business since 1920 and, at that time, had the capacity to produce a total of 23,000 tons of feed per month in its three feed mills. The purchase price was $1.6 million. Nutrena Mills was one of the most progressive feed companies at that time.

Back then it was common to sell feed in "pretty print" feed bags so the material from the bags could be used to make tablecloths and clothing.

Cargill's feed business has grown substantially since 1945 through both acquisitions and innovations that have helped Cargill reach more customers around the globe. The focus of Cargill's acquisitions has been to build its knowledge and reach by gaining access to experienced, dedicated people with a passion for the animal nutrition business-not simply to own more feed mills. Feed mills are merely buildings, but the people who come with acquisitions are the key to growth in creativity and learning that make a company a better place to do business and a better place to work

Cargill Animal Nutrition Acquisitions from 1945 to the Present

The following is a list of acquisitions compiled from press releases, the Cargill News (company magazine), and other sources in the Cargill Archives. The dates refer to the time of the announcement, not necessarily the legal transfer date. The list represents known acquisitions from available sources but might not be complete.

1945: Nutrena Mills

1946: J. A. Pittman Grain Company of Wichita Falls, Texas

1947: Cargill Feed Division and Nutrena Mills, Inc. are consolidated.

1947: Canned dog food plant in Fort Worth, Texas (subsequently sold in 1949).

1948: Blue Square Feed and Nutrena Mills feeds are merged into one product line: Cargill Feeds.

1951: A warehouse in East Saint Louis, Missouri.

1951: Royal Feed and Milling Company (with mills in Memphis, Tennessee and Meridian, Mississippi).

1952: F. R. Miller Feed Mills, Inc. (Omaha, Nebraska)

1955: Fairmont Foods plant in Giddings, Texas

1961: Five-state feed business of A.E. Staley Mfg. Co.

1961: X-Cell Feeds (Tampa, Alabama)

1962: Merging of Nutrena and Cargill corporate structures begins

1962: Tampa, Florida plant of General Mills, Inc.

1963: Fort Worth, Texas plant of General Mills, Inc.

1963: Cargill joins with a group of Argentine farmers and businessmen to organize a feed manufacturing company in Saladillo, Argentina

1963: Victor Feeds unit of Lauhoff Grain Co.'s Crete Mills, Nebraska

1964: Cargill joins a three-way venture in Europe with Tradax International (Geneva, Switzerland) and Karel Hens (Antwerp, Belgium)

1964: Cargill assumes the lease held by the Pillsbury Company on a mill in Lone Rock, Wisconsin

1964: Cargill enters Latin American animal nutrition business via a partnership with Aliansa (in El Salvador), owner of Alimentos di Animales. S.A.

1964: Two feed mills from Pillsbury in Clinton and Centerville, Iowa

1966: Smithton Feed & Grain, Missouri

1967: Quaker Oats mill in Sioux City, Iowa and 33 retail outlets in Iowa and S. Dakota

1968: Farmers Grain and Feed Co., Rowan, Iowa

1969: Cresco Pellets, Inc., Cresco, Iowa

1969: Hales and Hunter Co. (Pioneer Feed)

1969: Cargill partners with Taiwan Sugar in Cargill-Taiwan Corp.

1969: Joint venture formed with Bilskie Farm Supply to operate a mill in Vincennes, Indiana

1972: Hancock Pellets, Carthage, Illinois

1973: Ritemix Milling Co. purchased from W.E.W. Company, McCook, Nebraska

1973: Corno Feed Division mills in Illinois and Missouri purchased from National Oats Co.

1976: Belgrade Superior Feed Co., Belgrade, Minnesota

1976: Agri-Pride Pellet Service (Illinois)

1977: Feed supplement plant in Garden City, Kansas

1978: Neese & Sons, Inc., premix plant in Ankeny, Iowa

1980: Critic Feeds, Beardstown, Illinois

1980: Young's, Inc., Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania

1981: Farmers Supply Company, Walkersville, Maryland

1981: Stockton Hay and Grain Co., Stockton, California

1983: Feed mill of Morrill Elevator, Inc., Morrill, Nebraska

1983: Feed mill of Kinsley Cooperative Exchange, Kinsley, Kansas

1984: Barber and Bennett, Inc., Albany, New York

1985: John R. Jirdon Industries, Nebraska

1985: Beacon Milling Company, Cayuga, New York

1986: Fuzzy's Feeds, Inc., Alabama

1987: ACCO Feeds from the Quaker Oats Company

1988: Central Soya feed mill in Wilson, N.C.

1989: Arkona Feed Mills, Limited, Arkona, Ontario, Canada

1989: Hansen & Peterson, Burlington, Wash.

1990: Alexander, New York, feed mill of Wayne Feeds, a division of Continental Grain Company

1991: Pillsbury feed mill in Ogden, Utah

1991: Iowa and Colorado-based feed operations of W.R. Grace & Co.

1992: Sierpc, Poland

1992: Lecompte, Louisiana feed mill of SF Services, Inc., Little Rock, Arkansas

1993: Feed Mill in Mineola, Texas, From East Texas Feeds, Inc.

1997: Franklin, Connecticut, feed mill of K & L Feed Mill Corp.

1997: Garver Feed and Supply, Madison, Wisconsin

2000: Rupert, Idaho, feed mill of Koch Industries of Wichita, Kansas

2001: Agribrands, a spin-off of Ralston Purina

2002: Provimi Kliba (Switzerland)

2003: Ferndale Grain (Ferndale, Washington)

2003: Simon Newman (Turlock, California)

2004: Burris Mill & Feed, Inc. (Franklinton, Louisiana)

2004: Agway Feed & Nutrition