Cargill is reducing its workforce by about 5% globally, saying the layoffs are a response to a decrease in crop prices that have reduced revenue for the agricultural giant.
An annual report from the Minnesota-based company said it employed about 160,000 people worldwide in 2024, making it the United States’ largest private company. The 5% cut could impact 8,000 workers.
“To strengthen Cargill’s impact, we must realign our talent and resources to align with our strategy. Unfortunately, that means reducing our global workforce by approximately 5 percent. This difficult decision was not made lightly,” a Cargill representative told The Capital-Journal.
The company operates grain elevators in Topeka, Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, Ogallah and Wakeeney. It has a meat processing facility in Dodge City, a warehouse and pet food manufacturing facility in Kansas City and a feed and nutrition plant in Emporia.
Its protein division’s headquarters in Wichita opened in 2018 and was meant to connect Cargill’s 800 Wichita-based employees with its 28,000 workers across North America.
Cargill’s major businesses are trading and distributing grain, livestock and food ingredients. It reported record-high revenues during the pandemic but declined to its lowest level of profit since 2016 this year.
The layoffs at Cargill come as Kansas saw another large agricultural employer cut back in Kansas. Tyson Foods announced Dec. 2 that its plant in Emporia will close in February and lay off the 809 employees that work there.
