Cargill´s history

1865

W. W. Cargill leaves the family home in Janesville, Wisconsin and becomes the proprietor of a grain flat house in Conover, Iowa. The flat house, a type of warehouse that preceded country elevators, was at the end of the McGregor & Western Railroad line.

1869

W. W. Cargill's business is headquartered in Albert Lea, Minnesota, where he builds his second Minnesota flat house. His brother Sam Cargill builds an elevator in Winnebago City, Minnesota.

1875

W. W. Cargill moves his family and headquarters to La Crosse, Wisconsin. La Crosse is a logical choice because it is the point where the Milwaukee Road and the Southern Minnesota Division connect. Many of the company's flat houses and country elevators are located along the Southern Minnesota Division. W. W. also builds his first terminal elevator in La Crosse.

1883

W. W. Cargill becomes a member of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce's grain trading exchange.

1889

W. W. Cargill operates a ship-building yard in La Crosse.

1890

The Cargill Elevator Company is incorporated in Minneapolis to take over the holdings of Cargill Brothers. W. W. Cargill reports that his businesses own a total of 71 grain elevators or flat houses, 28 coal sheds and two Minnesota flour mills -- one in Houston and one in Hokah.

1893

The Superior Terminal Elevator Company, a subsidiary of the Cargill Elevator Company of Minneapolis, is formed by W. W. and Sam Cargill, and a 2.3-million-bushel elevator is constructed at Superior, Wisconsin.

1895

W. W. Cargill and other business associates organize the Soo Land Association in Sault St. Marie, Michigan. The improved Sault St. Marie locks open in Canada, linking Lake Superior and Lake Huron. The U.S. locks will open in 1896.

1896

W. W. Cargill establishes the Cargill Coal Company.

1906

The Cargill Elevator Company leases office space in the Security Bank Building in Minneapolis. This is the home office until 1915.

1908

Cargill offices are made more efficient with the use of dictaphones and typewriters.

1909

W. W. Cargill dies, and John H. MacMillan, Sr., becomes president of the Cargill Elevator Company of Minneapolis and its subsidiaries. MacMillan moves to keep Cargill Elevator solvent as debts mount from other business investments.

1912

In a continuing effort to resolve financial problems, the Cargill businesses are restructured, separating grain from non-grain businesses. All non-grain businesses are placed under the control of the Cargill Securities Company in Minneapolis.

1922

Julius Hendel joins the Cargill organization and takes charge of the newly established grain laboratory in the Soo Line Building in Minneapolis. The grain lab was one of the most respected private laboratories in the country. Hendel´s laboratory study on flour appeared in the Northwestern Miller.

1923

Cargill purchases Milwaukee-based Taylor and Bournique Company, an eastern grain-merchandising firm with offices in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin; Buffalo and Ogdensburg, New York; and New York City. The acquisition´s private wire system is incorporated into Cargill´s system, providing Cargill´s first communications link with markets in the East.

1928

Cargill Grain Company Ltd. is organized in Canada with an office in Montreal. It is the company´s first non-U.S. location.

1929

Cargill organizes its first "export department." It starts selling grains "FOB", meaning "free-on-board", financing the carrying and shipping charges as part of the selling price. A sales office is opened in Genoa, Italy.

1930

Cargill launches its management training program when Julius Hendel begins to conduct classes on grain trading. The training program is one of the first of its kind in the country.

1930

The expansion into non-U.S. locations continues with new offices opening in Winnipeg, Canada; Rotterdam, Holland; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cargill's new elevator in Omaha, Nebraska, is built in a record 55 days. Its revolutionary design incorporates a suspended roof, rapid unloading techniques and a system for accurately measuring grain temperature. In 1931, an addition doubles the capacity to 10 million bushels.

1931

Cargill expands its operation with the opening of an office in Chicago. A London office is also opened.

1936

In 1936, the Cargill Elevator Co. and other Cargill businesses are merged to become Cargill, Incorporated.

1938

Cargill and the Chicago Board of Trade begin a long and contentious dispute regarding September futures contracts. Accusations against the company lead to a bar on futures trading by Cargill Grain Co. and three of its officers.

1939

Promoted by Austen Cargill, the company begins to manufacture Blue Square Feed at a modern facility in Lennox, South Dakota.

1940

As the Nazis march into Denmark, Cargill's Copenhagen office is closed, and all grain shipments to Scandinavian countries are suspended. The Rotterdam office also will be closed when the Nazis invade Holland.

1941

1942

Cargill contracts with the U.S. Navy to build six ocean-going tankers and builds Port Cargill on the Minnesota River as the construction site. The Minnesota and Western Railroad is acquired for this port.

1943

Cargill enters the soybean processing business with the acquisition of plants at Cedar Rapids and Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Springfield, Illinois.

1944

A private residence west of Minneapolis is purchased as Cargill's new executive headquarters and is soon known as the "Lake Office."

1945

Cargill receives the Army-Navy "E" Award for shipbuilding. Nutrena Mills, Inc., is purchased by Cargill. Cargill Feed Division's original "Blue Square" brand was eventually displaced by the Nutrena brand.

1951

Cargill's Feed Division merges with the Royal Feed & Milling Co. of Memphis, Tennessee, manufacturers of Staf-O-Life feeds for livestock and poultry.

1952

Cargill launches the Carpolus, an integrated towboat and barge that includes innovative Cargill-designed features.

1953

The first carload of bulk corn to be loaded in the interior of Brazil is loaded by Cargill at Ourinhos for shipment to Sao Paulo. Tradax is organized to handle international operations.

1954

Cargill enters the salt business by barging Louisiana rock salt up the Mississippi River for sale in the Upper Midwest.

1956

DThe Research Building opens near the Lake Office and marks the consolidation of research and development at Cargill.

1957

John H. MacMillan Jr. becomes chairman of the board and Cargill MacMillan, president. Cargill installs its first electronic computer, an IBM 650, in the Minneapolis office. Jim Cargill pioneers the use of a computer for feed formulation.

1958

Cargill introduces hybrid grain sorghum seed to Argentina.

1960

Grain terminal built by Cargill at Baie Comeau, Quebec, to move grain through the newly opened St. Lawrence Seaway. John H. MacMillan, Jr., dies. Erwin Kelm becomes president and leads the company.

1964

Cargill enters European markets with the purchase of the Hens Voeders Co.

1965

Cargill celebrates its 100th anniversary. Cargill forms Cargill Agricola S.A. in Brazil.

1966

Cargill enters the broiler-chicken industry by acquiring the Paramount Poultry brand. Cargill introduces a stylized "C" logo for all of its operations.

1967

Cargill enters the corn wet milling industry with the purchase of a mill in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

1968

Korea-Cargill Co., Ltd., is formed as a joint venture to produce feed, eggs and poultry. The first Illinois Central Unit Train rolls out of Gibson City, Illinois. The Unit Train was a Cargill innovation designed to transport inland grain more efficiently.

1969

The Cargill-Taiwan Corporation is formed in a joint venture with the Taiwan Sugar Corp. to produce livestock and poultry feed.

1971

The acquisition of the Gordy Salt Company of Louisiana puts Cargill in the evaporated salt business.

1972

The company enters the flour milling business by acquiring Burrus Mills, Saginaw, Texas. Cargill acquires C. Tennant, Sons & Co., a trader and importer of metals, chemicals, plastics, spices, and other commodities.

1973

In the United States, Cargill forms Cargill Leasing Corporation and acquires the Barton Salt Company.

1974

The Poultry Products Division expands by acquiring Ralston Purina's Honeysuckle White, Riverside and Medallion brands. The acquisition of North Star Steel Company takes Cargill into the steel-making industry. Cargill purchases Caprock Industries and enters the cattle feedlot business.

1975

Cotton merchandising begins with the acquisition of Hohenberg Bros. Company, located in Memphis, Tennessee

1977

Whitney MacMillan is elected Chairman. The Cargill Citrus Department imports the first bulk shipment of Brazilian frozen concentrated orange juice into the United States. Cargill completes the largest Gulf Coast grain-export elevator at Reserve, Louisiana. Cargill begins corn wet milling in Europe with the start-up of a plant in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands.

1978

The acquisition of Leslie Salt gives Cargill solar salt facilities in the San Francisco Bay area and Port Hedlund, Australia.

1979

Cargill acquires MBPXL Corporation of Wichita, Kansas, and enters the beef-processing industry. Cargill enters the malting business with the acquisition of the Laurent malt plant in France.

1980

Cargill enters the coffee-trading business by acquiring Scholtz & Company, N.Y.

1981

The acquisition of Ralli Bros. & Coney and associated trading companies from Bowater Corp., London, makes Cargill a leading international cotton, rubber, wool and fiber trader. Company fiber trading and processing locations include Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Peru, France and West Germany.

1982

MBPXL's name is changed to Excel Corporation.

1985

Cargill acquires 80 percent of Gardinier, Incorporated, a Florida phosphate − fertilizer mining and manufacturing company.

1986

Northeast Petroleum, a Chelsea, Mass., petroleum-products merchandising and distributing company, is acquired.

1987

General Cocoa Company Holland B.V. and Gerkens Cocoa Products, Inc., are acquired, making Cargill a leading international cocoa processor and supplier. Excel enters the pork-processing industry by purchasing a plant from Oscar Mayer Foods in Beardstown, Illinois, and leasing the Hormel pork-processing plant in Ottumwa, Iowa.

1988

Shandong-Cargill Ltd., a $10-million joint venture with the People's Republic of China, begins construction of a cottonseed-crushing facility in Shandong Province.

1990

Cargill Limited announces plans for a joint venture with the Provincial Government of Saskatchewan to form Saskferco Products, Incorporated, and build a $500-million nitrogen fertilizer plant.

1991

Cargill implements the North American Organization Project (NAOP), which reorganizes the structure of the company to reflect its global scope.

1992

Cargill's Board of Directors complete the formal creation of an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP). The first independent directors in forty years are elected to Cargill Board of Directors as part of a restructuring plan.

1994

Cargill acquires InterMountain Canola, a breeder of specialty varieties of canola seed that produce healthier, high quality stability oils. Goertzen seed is acquired, adding to Cargill's ability to produce specialty wheat and other food grains.

1995

Cargill purchases 19 Bunge grain elevators located in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota and Minnesota and Bunge's export grain elevator at Portland, Oregon. Cargill also swaps its river elevator at Osceola, Arkansas, for Bunge's river elevator at Price's Landing, Mo. Cargill sells its U.S. broiler operations to Tyson Foods and acquires Tyson's pork producing facility in Marshall, Missouri. Whitney MacMillan retires after more than 44 years of service at Cargill, including 18 years as chairman and chief executive office. The Board of Directors elects Ernest S. Micek chief executive officer.

1996

North Star Steel Arizona opens its $150 million steel-recycling minimill in Kingman, Arizona, pioneering a new generation of highly automated, energy efficient, steel minimills, featuring self-directed work teams. Cargill opens its new Financial Service Center in Fargo, North Dakota, and consolidates its basic accounting functions for the entire North American continent.

1997

Cargill acquires the North American salt production, processing and marketing assets of Akzo Salt, Inc., making Cargill one of the largest salt production and marketing companies in the world. Cargill and WPL Holdings, Inc. form a new energy trading and marketing company that will enter the U.S. energy marketplace. The joint venture called Cargill - IEC represents Cargill's entry into the bulk-electricity market in the United States. Excel completes the installation of steam pasteurization in its seven beef plants in the United States and Canada. The process greatly reduces the risk of pathogens like E. Coli O157:H7.

1998

Cargill's Memphis corn wet milling plant launches the first barge designed specifically to carry high fructose corn syrup and other liquid sweeteners. The barge, with its six stainless steel tanks, is one of a fleet of 14 that allows the Memphis plant to ship sweeteners on the Mississippi River at freight rates considerably lower than those for rail shipment.

1999

The University of Minnesota receives $10 million from Cargill to expand the university's work in the emerging field of microbial and plant genomics. Cargill Chairman Ernest Micek speaks on "Global Agriculture: Working toward a Sustainable Food System," at a conference being held in conjunction with the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle. Cargill completes acquisition of Continental Grain Company, the international agribusiness and financial services company based in New York.

2000

Cargill Dow Polymers LLC (CDP) announced plans to build a world-scale facility in Blair, Nebraska, that will use corn-derived dextrose to make polylactide (PLA) polymers for fibers, plastic packaging and other products. President Clinton presented the 1999 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to Cargill's Sunny Fresh Foods, a Monticello, Minnesota, based egg processing business. Warren Staley elected Chief Executive Officer. Japanese food company Toshoku became part of the Cargill group of companies in October. Toshoku has served the Japanese food industry since 1946. Mycogen Seeds, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company acquires the assets of Cargill Hybrid Seeds. Cargill agrees to acquire Agribrands International, Inc., which has 70 feed plants in 17 countries outside the United States. It markets its products under the Purina® brand, among others.

2001

Cargill´s Excel Corporation signs a letter of intent to acquire Emmpak Foods Inc., a leading producer of value-added meat products located in Milwaukee, Wis. Rocco Enterprises, Inc., agrees to sell its turkey and chicken processing business to Cargill, which agrees to sell the chicken processing business to affiliates of George´s, Inc.

2002

Cargill acquired Cerestar – a leading provider of starch and starch derivatives – the largest acquisition in Cargill's history.

2005

Cargill acquired the global pectin business of Citrico, an international manufacturer and supplier of pectin products for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.

2006

Cargill acquired Degussa's food ingredients business.

2011

Cargill acquires the assets and business of Schwartauer Werke GmbH & Co. KG Kakao Verarbeitung Berlin, ("KVB") Germany

2011

Cargill acquires Royal Nedalco's alcohol operations.