Sanderson Farms is an American poultry producer which is based in Laurel, Mississippi. It is the third largest poultry producer in the United States and produces 13.65 million chickens per week. On July 22, 2022, it merged with Wayne Farms to form Wayne-Sanderson Farms. The new company is controlled by a joint venture between

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in te ...

and

Conti Conti is an Italian surname. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 63.5% of all known bearers of the surname ''Conti'' were residents of Italy (frequency 1:756), 11.8% of the United States (1:24,071), 9.2% of Brazil (1:17,439), 6.3% of Argenti ...

(also known as Continental Grain Co. or ContiGroup). In 2021, it was included in

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

list.

History

The company was founded in 1947 by D.R. Sanderson, Sr. In 1961, the company merged with Miss Goldy’s Chicken company. In 1987, it became a publicly-listed company. In 2020, the company made more than $3.5 billion, processing more than 4.8 billion pounds of meat. In 2021, the company employed more than 17,000 people. In August 2021, it was announced that Sanderson Farms was sold to global food corporation Cargill, in a joint venture with Continental Grain Co. for $4.5 billion. The sale will combine Sanderson Farms with Continental subsidiary Wayne Farms to create a new, privately held chicken production company. In March 2022, the finalization of the sale is uncertain due to the investigations from the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

; but on July 22, 2022, Wayne Farrms merged with Sanderson Farms to form Wayne-Sanderson Farms.

Plants

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

References

External links

* 2022 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1947 Food and drink companies established in 1947 1947 establishments in Mississippi Cargill Poultry companies Poultry farming in the United States Meat processing in the United States Meat companies of the United States Brand name poultry meats Agriculture companies of the United States Food and drink companies based in Mississippi Jones County, Mississippi Meat packers Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 1980s initial public offerings {{food-company-stub