Sanderson Farms
| Company type | Private (after acquisition) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Poultry |
| Founded | 1947 |
| Founder | D.R. Sanderson, Sr. |
| Fate | Merged with Wayne Farms to form Wayne-Sanderson Farms |
| Headquarters | Laurel , United States |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Poultry |
Number of employees | 17,662 (2021) |
| Parent | Cargill and Continental Grain Co. (ContiGroup) |
Sanderson Farms is a U.S.-based poultry company with its main office located in Laurel, Mississippi. Ranking as the third largest poultry producer nationwide, it processes around 13.65 million chickens each week.
On July 22, 2022, Sanderson Farms combined operations with Wayne Farms, resulting in the creation of Wayne-Sanderson Farms, a joint enterprise owned by Cargill and Conti (Continental Grain Co./ContiGroup).
In 2019, the company generated $3.4 billion in revenue and employed 17,662 individuals as of October 2021. Sanderson Farms was recognized on the Fortune 500 list in 2021.
History
Established in 1947 by D.R. Sanderson, Sr., the business merged with Miss Goldy’s Chicken in 1961 and became publicly traded in 1987. By 2020, Sanderson Farms had surpassed $3.5 billion in revenue and processed over 4.8 billion pounds of poultry meat, with a workforce exceeding 17,000 employees in 2021.
In August 2021, Cargill and Continental Grain Co. acquired Sanderson Farms for $4.5 billion. This purchase merged Sanderson Farms with Continental's Wayne Farms to establish a privately owned poultry company. Although the U.S. Department of Justice initially reviewed the deal for regulatory concerns, the merger was finalized on July 22, 2022, forming Wayne-Sanderson Farms.