Farmers Union Industries

What Farmers Union Industries does

Farmers Union Industries (FUI) is a privately held, farmer-owned cooperative founded in 1929 and headquartered in Redwood Falls, Minnesota. It operates six divisions across animal-rendering by-products, wet pet food co-packing, hog processing, grease management, and agricultural equipment manufacturing, employing approximately 500 people across facilities in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa. The company is equally owned by the Farmers Union organizations of Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, through a parent entity called Farmers Union Enterprises, and is governed by a 13-member board with multi-state representation.

The company's core technology centers on rendering and by-product processing — converting multi-species animal raw materials (blood, feathers, porcine, beef, poultry) into feed ingredients such as meat and bone meal, feather meal, blood meal, and feed fats, alongside frozen and fresh-chilled protein ingredients for the pet food industry. It supplements this with custom wet pet food co-packing (Performance Pet Products), hog processing (Redwood Farms Meat Processors), used cooking oil collection and grease trap services (Midwest Grease), and manufacturing of manure spreaders, silage trailers, and truck boxes (Artex Manufacturing). Three Northland Choice facilities hold SQF Level II certification, and the company maintains EU APHIS certification, supporting international exports of feed ingredients via truck, container, and rail.

FUI generates revenue through B2B transaction-based pricing across its divisions: rendering feed ingredients, pet food co-packing (priced on can size, formula, and order quantity), pork processing, agricultural equipment sales, and grease management services. Its go-to-market is sales-led and direct, serving enterprise customers (livestock feed manufacturers, pet food brands, biofuel producers) alongside a long-tail of restaurant and food service accounts for grease services. The company is currently extending into adjacent verticals through a 2025 licensing agreement with Replenish Nutrients to produce SuperKS fertilizer from rendering by-products, with production targeted for late summer 2026.

Name

Farmers Union Industries

Legal name

Farmers Union Industries, LLC

Website

https://fuillc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1929

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Farmers Union Industries is a farmer-owned cooperative operating six divisions across animal rendering, wet pet food co-packing, hog processing, grease management, and farm equipment manufacturing, serving B2B feed, pet food, biofuel, and agricultural customers across the Upper Midwest and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Rendering and Feed Ingredients

NAICS

Other Animal Food Manufacturing (311119), Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering (311611), Animal Food Manufacturing (31111)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Meat Packing Plants (2011), Food And Kindred Products (2000), Farm Machinery & Equipment (3523)

akta.pro primary industry

Byproduct & Co-Product Feed Blending (DDGS, soybean hulls, wheat midds) (AFADAIAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Ground & Formed Meat Products Manufacturing (Burgers, Sausages, Meatballs) (AFAKALAE), Livestock & Dairy Equipment (IMAHACAG), Livestock Complete Feed Milling & Blending (Cattle/Swine/Poultry) (AFADAIAA)

Keywords

• Animal rendering services
• Feed ingredient manufacturing
• Pet food co-packing
• Agricultural equipment manufacturing
• Meat processing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Redwood Falls

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Rendering and Feed Ingredients: Full-service rendering operations converting animal by-products into quality feed ingredients, proteins, and fats for livestock feed manufacturing.
2. Pet Food Manufacturing: Custom co-packing wet pet food manufacturing with various formula options and multiple can size choices.
3. Agricultural Equipment: Manufacturing and sales of manure spreaders, silage trailers, truck boxes, and rendering trailers.
4. Grease Management Services: Collection, recycling of restaurant grease, grease trap cleaning, and container management services.
5. Pork Processing: Hog processing facility creating markets for hogs of all sizes, offering various pork cuts and products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Farmers Union Industries is a farmer-owned cooperative group operating six divisions that convert animal by-products into rendered feed ingredients, proteins, and fats; co-pack wet pet food; manufacture heavy-duty agricultural equipment; process hogs; and collect and recycle used restaurant grease into livestock feed ingredients and biofuels. The company supplies ingredients and services to livestock feed manufacturers, pet food brands, biofuel producers, restaurants, and agricultural operations across the Upper Midwest and internationally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Central Bi-Products Rendering and Feed Ingredients Full-service rendering operations converting multi-species animal by-products (including beef, poultry, pork, feathers, and blood) into quality feed ingredients, protein meals (meat and bone meal, poultry by-product meal, feather meal, blood meal), and feed fats for livestock feed manufacturing.
• Performance Pet Products Custom Wet Pet Food Co-Packing Custom co-packing wet pet food manufacturing offering chunk/gravy and pâté formula options for cats and dogs in 3 oz, 5 oz, and 13 oz can sizes, with a dedicated team partnering on tailored solutions for pet food brand customers.
• Artex Agricultural Equipment Heavy-duty farm equipment manufactured at the Redwood Falls, MN facility, including manure spreaders, silage trailers, truck boxes, and rendering trailers built for demanding farm conditions.
• Redwood Farms Meat Processing Hog processing facility at Estherville, IA that creates a market for hogs of all sizes and produces a variety of pork cuts and products for sale.
• Midwest Grease Collection and Recycling Collection and recycling of restaurant used cooking oil and grease into livestock feed ingredients and biofuels, with grease trap cleaning and container management services across Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
• Northland Choice Pet Food Ingredients SQF Level II certified production of frozen and fresh-chilled protein-based pet food ingredients from three facilities in Waite Park, Long Prairie, and Redwood Falls, MN.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly $110 million in permitted projects in 2023, including $20.6 million Performance Pet expansion
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Replenish NutrientscoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 14 November 2025Three-year U.S. licensing agreement with Replenish Nutrients to produce its SuperKS patented fertilizer in Minnesota. The deal involves renovating a processing plant with initial capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes, scalable to 100,000 metric tonnes, with production expected in late summer 2026. Potential annual revenue generation of CAD$2.8 million to 8.4 million for Replenish. This marks Replenish's first large-scale expansion into the U.S. market.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Simmons Pet Food: Wet pet food co-manufacturer serving premium and private-label brands, with multiple U.S. plants. Most directly comparable peer to Performance Pet Products' chunk/gravy and pate co-packing offerings, competing for the same brand contract slots.
• Baker Commodities: U.S. renderer operating rendering plants plus used cooking oil collection and yellow grease processing. Highly comparable to the combination of Central Bi-Products rendering and Midwest Grease used-oil recycling under one roof.
• Meyer Manufacturing (now part of Kuhn): Manure spreaders and forage handling equipment manufacturer, now within Kuhn North America. Closest direct competitor to Artex Manufacturing's manure spreader and silage trailer product lines.
• Valley Proteins: U.S. rendering company converting animal by-products into proteins and fats for the feed and pet food industries across East/Mid-Atlantic regions. Tightly comparable mid-sized renderer to Central Bi-Products.
• CJ Foods (CJ CheilJedang): Specialty wet pet food co-manufacturer with multiple U.S. facilities (formerly part of Merrick Pet Care). Direct competitor to Performance Pet Products for premium wet pet food co-packing contracts.
• West Coast Reduction Ltd. Western Canada/U.S. rendering company producing tallow, meat and bone meal, and blood meal for feed and oleochemical markets. Closest regional analog to Central Bi-Products' rendering operations and protein-meal feed ingredient portfolio.

Broad incumbents

• JBS USA: U.S./global meat processor with substantial rendering and pet food ingredient operations. Comparable vertical integration from hog/beef slaughter through rendered ingredients, though at materially greater scale.
• SARIA Group: European-based rendering and food recycling group (includes SARIA Bio-Industries, Tönnies). Comparable rendering and by-product processing technology stack to Central Bi-Products across global markets.
• Tyson Foods: Vertically integrated protein company with rendering, pet food (Tyson Nutra), and prepared foods divisions. Comparable to the FUI footprint through its rendering feed ingredient business and pet food co-manufacturing capabilities, though much larger and publicly traded.
• Darling Ingredients: Global rendering and sustainable nutrient leader (Diamond Green Diesel JV with Valero). The most direct competitor to Central Bi-Products' rendering/feed ingredient business and operates at vastly greater scale, providing public-market benchmarks for FUI's rendering segment economics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/farmersunionindustries
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/farmers-union-industries
• Instagraminstagram.com/farmersunionindustries

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles22 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Farmers Union Industries