Cargill touts shift in supply chain

MINNEAPOLIS — The global food environment is shifting, and food production and consumer demands are vastly different compared to when the company first entered the business 161 years ago, said Brian Sikes, board chair and chief executive officer of Cargill, in a letter to stakeholders accompanying its annual report.

Cargill posted revenue of $164 billion in fiscal 2026, up from $154 billion in 2025 and $160 billion in 2024.

In the report, Sikes pointed to a companywide shift first implemented two years ago that continues to play out in order to keep pace with the evolving landscape of the food supply chain.

“Together, we’ve transformed five enterprises into three and simplified our structure from 23 business groups to 14 — reducing layers of complexity and moving decision-making closer to our customers,” he said.

Building trust in supply chain

Cargill’s restructuring comes in response to not just producing more food but providing “smarter movement, stronger connections and deeper trust at every link in the supply chain,” Sikes said.

For a long time, agriculture’s biggest challenge has been defined by producing more food for more people. Sikes believes that challenge has been met. The world produces more food now than at any other point in history.

Still, 670 million people in the world go hungry. Moving beyond the mindset of simply producing more, Cargill has set out to improve efficiencies and connections to better meet the needs of changing demographics.

“To start, population growth is slowing sooner than expected,” Sikes wrote. “Families are forming later, fertility rates are falling and demographic momentum has faded. These trends have marked a critical shift for our industry because the world we planned for is not the one we’ll be feeding tomorrow. And yet, the landscape we face is far more complex than simple subtraction.”

Sikes expressed confidence in Cargill’s abilities to meet these new complexities.

Rising to the challenge

With more than 155,000 employees, Cargill reaches 125 different markets and operates across 70 countries.

Cargill modernized its approach to technology, investing in digital capabilities to help teams make decisions faster and automate routine work. For more than a decade, Cargill has been actively testing and integrating artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

Sikes estimated that across food and agriculture, AI could generate additional productivity valued at $40 billion to $70 billion annually.

“As our industry explores this technology, there are those who believe AI will solve everything,” he said. “Others fear it will ruin everything. We think both views miss the point. The future of AI will be determined by the judgment, values and ambition of those who choose to lead it. And we intend to lead.”

Through targeted acquisitions and investments, Cargill has begun to reshape its portfolio to better position the company for long-term, sustainable growth, Sikes said.

Acquisitions include Mig-Plus, a family-owned company in Brazil specializing in animal nutrition solutions for multiple species, primarily swine and ruminants, and full ownership of Australian beef processor Teys Investments Ply Ltd.

In Saint-Nazaire, France, Cargill is expanding its sunflower processing capacity to create new opportunities for local farmers, strengthen regional supplies of high-protein meal and make better use of agricultural byproducts.

In Nantong, China, Cargill broke ground on a major oilseeds and oils processing facility near Nantong Port, which is expected to enhance supply chain efficiency with a total investment of about $500 million.

To reach more farmers, Cargill is making major upgrades to its micronutrition production facility in Engerwitzdorf, Austria, and a state-of-the-art dairy feed plant under construction in Punjab, India. These efforts are expanding its production capacity — by up to 400,000 tonnes in Punjab — to help meet growing demand for advanced animal nutrition.

Cargill has begun operations at its canola processing facility in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, with an annual processing capacity of 1 million tonnes.

“The pace and partners Cargill keeps now will define the impact we make in the decade ahead,” Sikes said. “Side by side with the world’s farmers, our customers and the hard-working people who power our supply chains, we’re convinced this decade will be our most consequential. With speed and ingenuity, a clear pulse on the near- and long-term trends shaping the world’s appetites, and the courage to embrace change, we will.”