Cargill to maintain legacy of recently acquired Owensboro Grain Company
USA- Family-run American global food corporation, Cargill intends to keep the practices and traditions that have made Owensboro Grain successful for more than a century as they integrate the acquisition into the Cargill family.
Last month, Cargill completed the acquisition of 116-year-old Owensboro Grain Company, which has grown from a small grain merchant founded in 1906 to operating a fully integrated soy processing facility.
Cargill’s integration leader, Don Camden expressed that he understood it was a difficult decision for Owensboro Grain’s owners to sell the company, but it was necessary to look for a strong strategic partner that would take their products into the export market.
“We realized that in order to be competitive in the market today, in this particular industry, you really need to have a global footprint because it’s just become a global industry,” Former CEO Helen Cornell said in November when news of the acquisition broke.
Camden addressed farmers and local officials during the annual Farm City Breakfast hosted by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce on Saturday morning and promised to maintain the legacy Owensboro Grain has built.
“As far as the integration goes, we’re taking it very slowly. We’ll bring Cargill resources in to help make the company grow and be even better… Owensboro Grain is a great company with good employees, good customers, and good partners in the community,” Camden said.
Camden acknowledged that being a big multinational company can sometimes bring a negative connotation, and promised that Cargill would still try to act like a family-run business.
“Owensboro Grain runs things very effectively with farmers, and we won’t change that… They pay you competitive prices. All of the things that you need, we will continue to do,” promised Camden.
Camden added that for now, Cargill would keep operating as Owensboro Grain Company and later transition to the name Cargill.
“Part of the integration piece of my job is making sure that we take the best things of Owensboro and protect those from Cargill, then find what Cargill needs to bring in from a resources standpoint to make the company better,” Camden said.
Camden promised that Cargill would provide sustainability opportunities to farmers, and help them with risk management and grain marketing, as it seeks to modernize and increase capacity across its North American oilseeds network to support growing demand.
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