Why did America’s largest privately held company implement a new long term strategy?
12/11/24

Cargill is America’s largest privately held company and plays a crucial role in the distribution of grain that are crucial for the development of growing cattle. Not only are Cargill crucial for supporting the growth of grain, according to the USDA they are “invested to be one of the largest beef processors in North America.”(USDA, 2024). As Cargill maintains a large hold of the food processing industry, they have a large number of employees to help maintain their status.

Cargill has roughly 160,000 employees but is now adapting a new long term strategy which will have mass layoffs of 5% of their workforce. About 8,000 employees will be fired including people from all across the globe as Cargill has connections in 70 different countries. This news comes as shocking as just in June 2024, Cargill announced that it was going to open a new Atlanta hub which would employ an extra 400 Georgia based workers.

Some people are glad that Cargill is reducing its size because there has been some controversy in the brand’s history. Cargills history is rooted in child slavery and even been sued for it as in “In July 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) filed suit against Cargill on behalf of Malian children who were trafficked from Mali into Côte d’Ivoire and forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent beatings.”(mightyearth, 2019). The use of child labor has inspired people to boycott brands like Cargill and its other sibling companies such as “Ahold Delhaize” as it supports Cargills company which is a reason why Cargill is implementing a new strategy. Some may see the downsizing of Cargill as a bad thing for the economy, but it may turn out to be a positive thing as it could limit and prevent the use of unethical labor.