Top 11 Agribusiness Companies In The World

In this article we will present the 11 biggest agribusiness companies in the world. Click to skip ahead and see the top 5 agribusiness companies in the world. At the end of this article we will tell the name of the agribusiness company that hedge funds are piling into. This company is twice as popular as the runner-up.

You might be surprised to know that most of the top 11 agribusiness companies in the world are worth tens of billions of dollars. So what exactly is an agribusiness company? The term agribusiness is actually related to farming, but agribusiness companies are not farms themselves. Instead, it just means any business related to agricultural, and allows a lot of leeway. For example, a company providing pesticides or agricultural machinery or even supplying seeds would be an agribusiness company.

Most of the biggest agribusiness companies have multiple businesses, with agriculture being a part of it. But you’d be surprised to know how lucrative agriculture itself is, and can earn billions in revenue for these companies. Apart from the aforementioned businesses which encompass agribusiness, even companies which are involved in the supply chain regarding the supply of farm products, such as retailers, wholesalers and distributors are also considered to be agribusiness companies.

The term itself has been quite controversial over the past several years. Many people think these agribusinesses are actually usurping traditional farms and taking away their profits. After all, people always love to find a villain, and what’s better than huge corporations with massive revenue and assets, even though these corporations are actually providing employment to hundreds of thousands of people across the globe. Due to the popularity of agribusiness, you can even get an education in various universities in the US and major in it, which could help you quickly climb the ladder of agribusiness.

To determine our list, we took a look at some of the traditionally top agribusiness companies over the past several years. We inspected their annual reports where the companies are listed and checked their revenues for both 2019 and 2018, to come up with more accurate rankings. Further, as I mentioned earlier, most companies have multiple businesses. Where possible, we have only selected the agricultural revenue of these companies to stay honest with our list. However, some companies are private and don’t have public information available, so we have had to take total revenues for them. You can compare them to the 12 largest agricultural companies in the world by revenue, and see the changes which have taken place over the years. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the companies responsible in some way or the other, for the food on your table, starting with number 11:

11. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc (NYSE:FDP)

The only company in our list to generate revenues less than $10 billion, Fresh Del Monte Produce has had total sales in the $4 – $5 billion range in 2018 and 2019. It is a global producer, distributor and marketer of fruit and vegetables, which are, as the company name suggests, fresh. Its current market cap is $1.14 billion.

10. BASF (ETR:BAS)

BASF is a German chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world to boot. It had revenues of $9.2 billion in 2019, a significant increase of 27% over 2018, though the total revenue for the company was nearly $70 billion.

9. CNH Industrial NV (NYSE:CNHI)

CNH is an Italian American, and is only 8 years old but derived nearly $11 billion in agricultural revenue in 2019, out of a total of $28 billion. And even this was less than 2018, when they managed to earn $11.7 billion. It has several agricultural brands and manufactures combines and tractors, harvesters, seeders and sprayers among various other equipment.

8. Yara International ASA (OTCMKTS: YARIY)

Located on 5 continents, Yara is one of the biggest chemical companies in the world, originating from Norway. Its largest business involved the production of nitrogen fertilizer, and has consistent revenues of nearly $13 billion over the last couple of years.

7. Syngenta AG

Syngenta is a Swiss company focusing on the production of agrochemicals as well as seed. It was formed by the merger of 2 companies in 2000, and has been a global behemoth since, with $13.6 billion of revenue in 2019 alone.

6. Bayer AG (OTC:BAYRY)

Like I said, Europe is dominating the top agribusiness companies in the world, with Bayer the latest entrant, operating from Germany. While it is primarily known as a pharmaceutical company, it has a major agriculture division known as Bayer CropSciences, which earned over $19.5 billion in 2019. They’re also famous for owning the football club Bayer Leverkusen.

Click to skip ahead and see the top 5 agribusiness companies in the world.

Disclosure: Top 11 agribusiness companies in the world is originally published at Insider Monkey.