AWB history

In 1895 William W. Cargill’s daughter married John Hugh MacMillan, and later his son William S. Cargill also married a MacMillan.

When the elder Cargill died in 1909 the company suffered its greatest crisis.

And in 1930 the Cargill Elevator Company became Cargill, Inc.

At the same time, the aggressive nature of MacMillan’s management style also created problems for the company, most notably in the September Corn Case of 1937.

In 1943 Cargill entered the soybean processing business through the purchase of plants in Cedar Rapids and Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Springfield, Illinois.

Similarly, in 1954 barges that carried grain to New Orleans began to backhaul salt up the Mississippi.

In 1955 Cargill opened a Swiss subsidiary, Tradax, to sell grain in Europe.

In 1960 Cargill opened a 13-million-bushel grain elevator in Baie Comeau, Quebec.

It did rejoin in 1962, however.

Cargill Beginnings, Cargill, Minnetonka, Minnesota, 1965; Morgan, Dan.

As late as 1977, a company survey revealed that while 94% of farmers had heard of Cargill, only 49% knew what the company did.

Also in 1979 came the purchase of the Laurent malt plant in France, which initiated Cargill’s involvement in the malting business.

Typical of its approach was the purchase of Ralston Purina’s soybean-crushing plants in 1985.

With the help of consultants McKinsey & Company, MacMillan initiated a major reorganization of Cargill’s North American operations in 1990.

By 1993 Cargill was the third largest United States food company, behind only Philip Morris and ConAgra, and its annual food sales had reached as high as $22 billion.

For 1996, Cargill reported record net income of $902 million on record sales of $55.98 billion.

The economic turmoil that erupted in mid-1997 in Asia and then spread to Latin America and Russia sent global commodity markets into a deep slump, depressing both sales and earnings at Cargill.

In 1999 Cargill initiated a 10-year plan called Strategic Intent, to reorganize the company for the new century and change its image.

In December 2000 Cargill announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Agribrands International, Inc., for $580 million, a deal that foiled a planned merger between Agribrands and Ralcorp Holdings Inc.

In January 2002, for instance, the company joined with CHS Cooperatives to form Horizon Milling, LLC, which instantly became the leader in United States flour milling, surpassing Archer Daniels Midland Company.

In October 2004 the company merged its fertilizer business, Cargill Crop Nutrition, into the publicly traded firm IMC Global, Inc., which then changed its name to the Mosaic Company.

In the autumn of 2005 one of the campaign's print ads, the "TNT Burger," won first place for Best Single Advertisement in the American Business Media's Creative Excellence in Business Advertising (CEBA) competition.

In June 2007 Staley retired after a remarkable eight years at the helm marked by a greater openness, several major acquisitions, and a concerted shift well beyond the company’s grain trading roots.