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They avoid the spotlight. They don’t run for office. They hide their billions. Yet the Cargill-MacMillans quietly control more of the world’s food supply than any government or corporation. Six generations have built a global empire that profits and controls in shadow.

Cargill Inc. started in 1865 when William Wallace Cargill bought a single grain warehouse in Iowa. Today the company spans 70 countries and employs 160,000 people. In 2023 its revenue totaled $177 billion — more than Nike, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola combined. America’s largest private company remains mostly family-owned. 

Fourteen of the company’s heirs have become billionaires (with an estimated combined of $63 billion), surpassing the sevenish Walton billionaires ($267 billion), and the fourish Koch billionaires ($116 billion). Unlike these wealthier, more public nouveau riche dynasties, the old-money Cargill-MacMillans remain well hidden. 

Here are the publicly acknowledged heirs, past and present:

Pauline MacMillan Keinath: ~$7.6 billion (2025) 

Gwendolyn Sontheim Meyer: ~$5 billion (2025) 

Austen Cargill II: ~$4.5 billion (2025) 

James R. Cargill II: ~$4.5 billion (2025) 

Marianne Cargill Liebmann: ~$4.5 billion (2025) 

Sarah MacMillan: ~$2.2 billion (2021) 

Cargill MacMillan III: ~$1.4 billion (2025) 

Andrew C. Liebmann: NA

Marion MacMillan Pictet: ~$4 billion (estate value, 2010)

Cargill Inc. remains entirely privately held, with roughly 90 percent of its shares owned by about 80 members of the Cargill-MacMillan family. Most stay far from public view and rarely appear on Forbes’s or Bloomberg’s wealth rankings. 

An Unseen Force Without Oversight

Cargill controls roughly 25 percent of the world’s grain and dominates the global  markets for meat, cocoa, salt, fertilizer, and shipping. It supplies Nestlé, McDonald’s, General Mills, Coca-Cola, and many other companies.

Every year it moves hundreds of millions of tons of crops through its ports, silos, and ships. From Brazilian soy to Iowa corn, Cargill profits at every step. 

If you eat, you are part of their system, whether you know it or not.

As a private company, Cargill answers to no shareholders, issues no quarterly reports, and avoids nearly all public scrutiny. It answers only to the family boardroom. The family controls what the world eats and hides all the details.

Cargill’s secrecy is not accidental. The company spends millions of dollars lobbying governments while its executives stay out of sight. Public rivals like Archer Daniels Midland, which also spends millions of dollars lobbying, still have to face investors and the press. 

Cargill’s Exposed Abuses

When the world suffers, Cargill wins. During the 2022 food crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine, the company and its peers made record profits while millions of people went hungry. 

Its abuses include:

• Price-fixing — resulted in a $87.5 million consumer class action settlement.

• Suppressed wages of US workers — resulted in a $57.4 million antitrust settlement.

• Global Witness Foundation — linked Cargill to murders of environmental defenders and destruction of indigenous territories.

• Morningstar Sustainalytics — documented child labor violation and worker exploitation in cocoa supply chains.

• Rainforest Action Network — reported deforestation in the Amazon, Indonesia, and other tropical regions.

• Mighty Earth — named Cargill one of the worst corporate actors in the Amazon and Cerrado deforestation. (The Cerrado is “a sprawling savanna stretching across 1.2 million square miles of central Brazil.”)

• Earthsight — exposed Illegal soy and timber exports from protected areas and conflict zones.

• Communities for a Healthy Bay — filed a lawsuit over Stormwater pollution and solid waste disposal.

• The Guardian — exposed connections to fires, illegal land clearing, and indigenous land conflicts in South America.

• Amnesty International — documented land grabbing, illegal deforestation, and labor abuses in Brazil.

• Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) — found unsustainable business practices and opaque supply chains in South America.

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — ​​oversaw a $130 million multistate Clean Air Act settlement.

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — flagged Toxic Release Inventory  (TRI) violations in Vermont.

• Department of Justice (DOJ) — prosecuted illegal pollutant discharges in the South Platte River in Colorado.

• Department of Justice (DOJ) — employee sentenced to prison for bribery and kickback scheme.

Long Quiet Masters

For over a century, the Cargill-MacMillans have ruled the world’s food system from the shadows. No ads. No public faces. Just power.

Their philanthropy is minuscule compared with their $177 billion in revenue, the estimated $63 billion family fortune, and millions of dollars spent on lobbying, serving mostly as public relations. It does nothing to curb their near-total, unaccountable control. Tiny handouts cannot mask or excuse the secrecy, environmental destruction, and labor abuses at the heart of their empire.

They decide what farmers grow, what companies sell, and what consumers pay. In a world of hunger, ecological collapse, and rising inequality, one question is unavoidable:

Should any single family hold this much power, with zero public oversight, over what humanity eats?

The Cargill-MacMillans Legacy of Secrets

From Stand.Earth: “Stand.Earth and Brazilian Artivist Mundano are calling on the billionaire family owners of Cargill Inc. to end their part in the destruction of South America’s forests and other critical ecosystems on a 15,000+ square foot mural unveiled off São Paulo, Brazil’s Paulista Ave, one of the the largest commercial streets in South America.”

Cargill Completes Teys Australia Acquisition

The author writes, “United States meat processing giant Cargill has this week completed its takeover of the Teys Australia beef processing and exporting business — almost 15 years after the two companies formed a historic 50-50 joint venture.”

The Cargill and MacMillan Families: The Dynastic Stewards of Cargill Inc. (From 2019)

From Old Money Society: “Cargill Inc., the largest privately held company in the United States, is synonymous with global agriculture, commodities trading, and food production. At the heart of this multinational powerhouse are the Cargill and MacMillan families, whose multigenerational leadership has solidified their position as one of the wealthiest and most influential dynasties in the world. This article delves into their collective net worth, historical ascent, and the modern-day family members shaping the company’s future.”

2025 Global Report on Food Crises

The authors write, “The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) provides in-depth analysis of food and nutrition crises at the global, regional and country level. It examines acute food security and malnutrition among resident and forcibly displaced populations, presents the immediate and underlying drivers of food and nutrition crises, and analyses nine years of acute food insecurity trends. It advocates for timely responses and offers insights into immediate and medium-term risks to vulnerable populations.”

Food Price Outlook, 2025 and 2026

From the Economic Research Service: “In 2025, overall food prices are anticipated to rise faster than the historical average rate of growth. In 2025, prices for all food are predicted to increase 3.0 percent, with a prediction interval of 2.6 to 3.4 percent. Food-at-home prices are predicted to increase 2.4 percent, with a prediction interval of 1.8 to 2.9 percent. Food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase 3.9 percent, with a prediction interval of 3.6 to 4.1 percent.”

Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food Supply

From the Environmental Protection Agency: “Agriculture is very sensitive to weather and climate. It also relies heavily on land, water, and other natural resources that climate affects.  While climate changes (such as in temperature, precipitation, and frost timing) could lengthen the growing season or allow different crops to be grown in some regions, it will also make agricultural practices more difficult in others.”

Meat Industry Increases Political Spending, Lobbying as USDA Updates Crucial Regulations (From 2024)

From the Missouri Independent: “Meat industry groups and major meat companies spent more than $10 million on political contributions and lobbying efforts in 2023. … The federal government has been rolling out changes to the protections given to livestock and poultry producers, as well as how these farmers operate. In turn, these changes prompted various meat companies and industry groups to lobby against certain provisions. In some cases, industry groups backed lawmakers seeking to do away with the new rulings altogether.”