Cargill is a giant in the agricultural industry. It generates roughly $154 billion in annual revenue by providing food, ingredients, agricultural solutions, and industrial products to farmers and other customers. According to Forbes, Cargill's sales total made it the biggest privately held company in the country in 2024.
The agricultural giant has a long and rich history. William Cargill founded the company in 1865, and it has remained in the hands of his descendants. While there has been some internal pressure to complete an initial public offering (IPO) over the years, Cargill has found ways to remain private.
IPO
It seems unlikely that Cargill will go public anytime soon. However, investors interested in the agricultural giant have some alternative options to consider. Here's a look at everything you need to know about investing in Cargill, should it go public, and how to invest in stocks that are capitalizing on the trends that have enabled it to grow into the country's largest private company.
Shareholder
How to buy Cargill stock
Unless you're an eligible employee, you can't buy Cargill stock. However, there are many ways to invest in the agricultural sector to capitalize on the same factors driving Cargill's growth. Three notable Cargill alternatives are:
The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic Company was formed in 2004 through the merger of fertilizer company IMC Global and Cargill's crop nutrition business. Cargill spun off its interest in The Mosaic company to shareholders in 2011.
So, while an investment in The Mosaic Company doesn't provide investors with direct exposure to Cargill, it does give them an interest in one of its legacy businesses. Today, Mosaic is a leader in potash and phosphate mining, which are nutrients crucial to helping feed crops and increase their yields.
Bunge Global
Bunge Global (BG +0.79%) is the global leader in oilseed processing and a top producer and supplier of specialty plant-based oils and fats. It helps farmers and other companies produce food, feed, and fuel.
Bunge Global made a move to expand its worldwide reach in 2023 by agreeing to acquire agricultural products company Viterra with the help of several strategic and financial partners. The $8 billion deal faced some delays but was completed in July 2025.
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM +0.31%) is a worldwide leader in human and animal nutrition. The company operates several agricultural businesses, including ag services and oilseeds, carbohydrate solutions, and nutrition. The company's products include flours, grains, starches, and sweeteners for human nutrition, animal feeds, and premix pet foods.
Investors who want to buy one of these Cargill alternatives can purchase shares in any brokerage account. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to invest in companies like Cargill.
Buy & Hold Strategy
- Open your brokerage account: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
- Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
Once you complete the order page, click to submit your trade and become a shareholder in one of these agricultural stocks while you wait to see whether Cargill ever goes public.
If Cargill goes public, investors will follow a similar process to buy its IPO stock. If shares become available after an IPO, you would fill out the order page at your brokerage account with Cargill's selected stock ticker and submit your trade.
Is Cargill profitable?
Even though Cargill is a private company, it publicly discloses some of its financial results in its annual report. In its 2025 annual report, the global agribusiness said it generated $154 billion in revenue during its most recent fiscal year, a decline from $160 billion during the prior fiscal year.
According to documents viewed by Bloomberg, the company was profitable. It produced $2.5 billion in net income during its 2024 fiscal year. On the one hand, that was its lowest annual profit since its 2015-16 fiscal year and less than half the record profit of $6.7 billion in its 2021-22 fiscal year. However, Cargill is still a profitable company. As of 2025, there haven't been any new updates.
Cargill's consistent profitability has allowed it to remain private. As long as the company can continue to fund its operations and growth internally through retained earnings, it will likely stay private since it doesn't need capital from outside investors to support its business.
Should I invest in Cargill?
You can't invest in the private, family-owned company unless you are an eligible Cargill employee. Given its long history as a private company and its ability to avoid the pressure of going public, non-employees might never get the chance to invest in Cargill.
However, the general investing public does have alternatives to investing in Cargill. They can buy shares of publicly traded rivals, like Archer-Daniels-Midland or Bunge, or consider investing in a company built on Cargill's legacy in Mosaic. Those agricultural stocks can all benefit from the same trends driving Cargill's growth.
ETFs with exposure to Cargill
Many investors would prefer to invest passively instead of actively managing a portfolio of stocks. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are an easy way to be a passive investor.
Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
Related investing topics
The bottom line on Cargill
Cargill is a behemoth in the agricultural sector. It currently tops the list as the largest privately held company in the country by revenue. It likely won't make the shift to the public markets anytime soon. Although that means the investing public can't buy Cargill shares, there are many other ways to invest in the agricultural sector.
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