Partnering with Farmers to Harvest Success
Beginning with its Farm Supply Department in 1946, Cargill identifies opportunities to expand its offerings and cater to the specific needs of its customers.
January 01, 2015
Seeing the Cargill name on freezers, batteries and even tires may be hard to imagine today, but those products were a reality following World War II, when Cargill’s farmer customers found many of the basic goods they needed to run their farms in short supply. To help farmers procure hard-to-obtain equipment, Cargill opened its Farm Supply Department in 1946, selling popular name-brand merchandise, such as Dunlop® tires and home freezers manufactured by Schaefer, Inc., alongside its own Cargill-branded products.
[image caption] Originally intended for Cargill’s seed corn business, this crest design acts as the Farm Supply Department’s logo during its years of operation.
Just one year after it opened, Cargill’s Farm Supply Department showed growth, netting a profit in its first year. And though overall sales continued at a steady rate, demand eventually slowed, resulting in a loss in 1949. The post-war market had stabilized and the goods Cargill offered to farmers were once again easy to purchase from traditional suppliers. Cargill executives recognized that the business was not sustainable as a long-term venture and shut it down.
Fifty years later, Cargill developed a new approach to providing valuable assistance to the farm market: an innovative agricultural program called Cargill AgHorizons. Like the Farm Supply Department before it, Cargill AgHorizons began with the singular goal of delivering customers the products and services they needed. But AgHorizons went well beyond that, providing expertise and innovation in areas like grain, seed and fertilizer, which few other companies could offer. The program approached farmers not simply as transactional customers, but as partners.
Cargill AgHorizons was the result of years of listening to farmers and fine-tuning its customer service techniques. Today, the program serves customers in more than 250 locations across the United States and Canada. By providing training in marketing, technology and the newest farming techniques, the business empowers local farmers, reinforcing Cargill’s standing as a trusted partner to the agricultural community.