Click the down arrow or scroll to walk through the history of Sanderson Farms.
Sanderson Farms purchases an existing processing plant in Hammond, Louisiana.
MILLION ANNUAL REVENUE $
372
MILLION AVG. ANNUAL PROFITS $
44

TYLER, TX

1,300,000

(AT FULL CAPACITY)

As of 2018, Sanderson Farms:

The best is

yet to come!

© Copyright 2019, Sanderson Farms, Inc. All rights reserved.

sandersonfarms.com

* with Tyler, TX, complex at full capacity.

Joe Frank, Sr. completes training at a hatchery in Meridian, Mississippi. He introduces his father and brother to the chicken business and they begin selling baby chicks, in addition to feed and seed.
1951
D.R. Sanderson and his two young sons, Dewey and Joe Frank, Sr., start a farm supply business in Laurel, Mississippi, selling feed, seed, and fertilizer. Sanderson Bros. Feed-and-Seed is born.
1947
The Sanderson Family closes the Feed-and-Seed and enters the chicken business. The first feed mill and hatchery are built, and the new business takes the name of Sanderson Brothers Farms.
1955
Sanderson Brothers Farms merges with Miss Goldy, Inc. Processing Plant in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, forming a company with poultry production and processing capabilities. The new company is called Sanderson Farms.
1961
The City of Laurel passes a bond issue enabling Sanderson Farms to build a $3 million poultry complex within the city.
1964
Doors open at the Laurel facility.
1969
1965
Joe Frank Sanderson, Jr. goes into business with his father.
1979
Joe F. Sanderson, Sr. serves as Board President of the Jones County Givers Fund, an organization now known as the United Way of the Pine Belt Region. A partnership between Sanderson Farms and the United Way begins.
1974
1978
The company builds a new feed mill and hatchery in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, to supply feed and chicks for the Hazlehurst and Hammond processing plants.
1981
1982
1986
Sanderson Farms acquires a processing facility in Collins, Mississippi. Joe Frank Sanderson, Sr. succeeds his father, D.R. Sanderson, as president of the company. Odell Johnson is named president and Joe Frank, Sr. transitions to the role of Chairman of the Board.
1984
in sales. $150 million The company reaches Sanderson Farms purchases National Prepared Foods in Jackson, Mississippi. The company can now operate within additional segments of the poultry market and offer more products.
1989
Odell Johnson retires as president and is succeeded by Joe Frank Sanderson, Jr. The company goes public and trades its stock on the NASDAQ.
1987
 The company is processing more than 160 million chickens, resulting in nearly 522 million lbs. of dressed meat.
1991 - 1994
ANNUAL REVENUE MILLION $
210
MILLION AVG. ANNUAL PROFITS $
16
PEOPLE McCOMB WORKFORCE
2500
Sanderson Farms invests almost $125 million in expanding existing operations in Laurel, Collins, Hazlehurst and Jackson, Mississippi, and Hammond, Louisiana.
1992
The company announces the addition of a $40 million retail poultry complex in McComb, Mississippi. Annual revenue climbs to $210 million, with profits averaging $16 million per year. Workforce is at 2,500 people.
1993
1994
Company revenues jump to a record $269 million, and operating profit is more than $32 million. Sanderson Farms earns $372 million in revenues and $43.8 million in operating profits.
ANNUAL REVENUE MILLION $
269

AVG. ANNUAL

PROFITS

MILLION

$

32
1997
 Sanderson Farms expands outside of the 135-mile radius it originally operated within, opening a new retail poultry complex in Bryan, Texas. This Texas complex includes a processing plant, hatchery and feed mill, and marks Sanderson Farms’ first time operating outside of Mississippi and Louisiana. Sanderson Farms employs more than 4,000 people. They operate five processing plants, four hatcheries, three feed mills and one byproducts plant. The company contracts with more than 600 growers and breeders.
1995
2004
1998
2006
Lampkin Butts is named President and Chief Operating Officer of the company. Joe Sanderson, Jr. is named Chairman of the Board. The company builds a new Corporate Office at its Laurel headquarters.
Operations begin at a big bird deboning complex in the city of Waco, Texas.
2007
2005
Sanderson Farms expands into Georgia, opening a poultry complex in Moultrie.
2013
Sanderson Farms agrees to title sponsor its home state’s PGA TOUR® tournament. Since 2013, the Sanderson Farms Championship has given $5 million in donations to charities across the state of Mississippi.
2017
2018
2019
Over the last five years, SF donated over $7.25 Million, as well as over 1 Million pounds of product to disaster and hurricane relief efforts in communities of most need. Sanderson Farms breaks ground in Tyler, TX, on our fourth Texas-based retail poultry complex. Tyler, TX, complex opens in January 2019. Sanderson Farms begins operations at the St. Pauls chicken processing plant and wastewater treatment facility. The plant hires 1,110 employees and contracts with over 100 independent family farmers.
2015
2011
A fully operating complex is built in Palestine, Texas. The $140 million facility includes a big bird deboning plant, wastewater treatment, hatchery, and feed mill. Plans are announced for another $140 million big bird deboning facility in St. Pauls, North Carolina. Sanderson Farms enters North Carolina with a hatchery, feed mill and processing plant in Kinston. Since 1999, when computer records began recording charitable contributions, Sanderson Farms and employees have donated over $8.7 million to local United Way organizations across the South.

PALESTINE, TX

1,250,000

WACO, TX

1,300,000

BRYAN, TX

1,300,000

HAMMOND, LA

625,000

MCCOMB, MS

1,300,000

HAZLEHURST, MS

625,000

LAUREL, MS

625,000

COLLINS, MS

1,250,000

KINSTON, NC

1,300,000

ST. PAULS, NC

1,250,000

MOULTRIE, GA

1,300,000

FLOWOOD, MS

2,100,000

Current Total Capacity (Birds) Per Week:

13,425,000

Contracts with more than

1,000

FAMILY FARMERS

Sold

4.4

BILLION POUNDS

OF DRESSED POULTRY ANNUALLY

Has more than

15,000

EMPLOYEES

Has Annual Sales of

  3.2

BILLION

$

HAS CAPACITY TO PROCESS MORE THAN

13

MILLION CHICKENS

PER WEEK*

WAS EXPORTING CHICKEN TO OVER

50

COUNTRIES