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Cargill Meat Solutions: The Beef Processing Arm of a Family-Owned Giant

The meat business of a company founded as an Iowa grain warehouse in 1865 now ranks among North America's largest beef processors.

What is Cargill Meat Solutions?

Cargill Meat Solutions is the beef processing business of Cargill, one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. The Wikiwand history of the predecessor business, Excel Corporation, records that the division took the name Cargill Meat Solutions in 2004, and that the Excel name returned in 2005 as a brand for an everyday meat line.

The company's reach is large. A reference profile reports that in the 2020s Cargill was among North America's largest beef processors, producing about 11 billion pounds of beef and by-products a year at eight facilities in the United States and Canada.

From a grain warehouse to a beef packer

William Wallace Cargill founded the company in 1865 by buying a grain warehouse in Conover, Iowa, according to an EBSCO research starter on Cargill. His brothers Sam and Sylvester joined two years later, and by 1885 the brothers controlled more than 100 grain storage facilities in the Midwest.

The meat business came much later. Cargill acquired MBPXL in 1979, and in 1982 the company was renamed Excel. In 1983 Excel bought Spencer Beef from Land O'Lakes, and in 1987 it moved into pork.

Why It Mattered

Cargill Meat Solutions mattered because a family-owned agribusiness with deep capital was able to buy and run large plants in the high-volume Plains model. Living History Farm names Excel, a Cargill subsidiary, as the second of the new Big Four beef packers.

The record also includes friction: a competitor's court challenge, a recall and a customer lawsuit.

  • Family ownership: descendants of the Cargill and MacMillan families still own the company, with about 25 family members controlling roughly 90 percent.
  • Capital and scale: Cargill's grain and commodity business gave the packer financial depth after 1979.
  • Acquisitions: Spencer Beef (1983) and Emmpak Foods (2001) widened the product range.
  • Customer ties: Cargill has supplied McDonald's for decades, according to the profile.
  • Limit to note: a 2002 Emmpak recall covered about 2.8 million pounds of ground beef linked to an E. coli outbreak.
  • Limit to note: the profile says McDonald's sued in 2024 alleging beef price fixing, an allegation rather than a finding.

Excel, Spencer Beef and the Monfort case

Excel's purchase of Spencer Beef drew a challenge from the smaller packer Monfort. Monfort won in lower courts, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that the sale was legal.

By 1988 Excel, ConAgra and IBP together handled nearly three-quarters of U.S. grain-fattened cattle, according to a New York Times article cited in the Wikiwand history.

Changes in the 2000s and 2010s

In 2001 Excel bought Emmpak Foods, a maker of cooked and deli meats and ground beef products. In 2004 the division became Cargill Meat Solutions. In July 2015 Cargill agreed to sell its U.S. pork processing business to JBS USA for $1.45 billion, which left beef and other proteins as the focus.

The EBSCO profile adds that Cargill's meat ventures struggled in 2024 and that the company has pledged to stop buying from farms linked to deforestation in South America.

Learn more

To see where the cattle come from, farm.FM covers the ranching side of beef, and a farm.FM story about cattle feeding follows the supply chain. The Living History Farm article on IBP explains the packing shift that made companies like Cargill's Excel possible.

Timeline

  1. 1865William W. Cargill buys a grain warehouse in Conover, Iowa
  2. 1979Cargill acquires MBPXL, the predecessor of Excel
  3. 1982The meat company is renamed Excel
  4. 1983Excel buys Spencer Beef from Land O'Lakes
  5. 1987Excel enters pork processing
  6. 2001Excel buys Emmpak Foods
  7. 2004The division is renamed Cargill Meat Solutions
  8. 2015Cargill agrees to sell its U.S. pork business to JBS USA for $1.45 billion

Frequently asked questions

What is Cargill Meat Solutions?

It is the meat processing business of Cargill. It was formerly Excel, took its current name in 2004, and is among North America's largest beef processors, per a reference profile.

Who owns Cargill?

Cargill is family-owned. Descendants of the Cargill and MacMillan families own it, with about 25 family members controlling roughly 90 percent, according to an EBSCO profile.

Did Cargill sell its pork business?

Yes. In July 2015 Cargill agreed to sell its U.S. pork processing business to JBS USA for $1.45 billion.

How much beef does Cargill produce?

A reference profile reports about 11 billion pounds of beef and by-products a year at eight facilities in the United States and Canada in the 2020s.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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