Cargill Invests $150 Million in French Sunflower Crushing to Supply Higher-Protein Feed

Cargill has committed $150 million to upgrade its Saint-Nazaire sunflower-processing facility in western France. The project is designed to produce high- and super-high-protein sunflower meal for animal feed, potentially giving European feed producers more local protein sources.

Why this matters

Cargill also plans to use sunflower hulls in a biomass boiler, forecasting more than 100 gigawatt-hours a year of avoided natural-gas use and roughly 20,000 tonnes of annual carbon-dioxide reductions. Those are engineering estimates, not verified post-commissioning results.

The limits and what happens next

The company expects construction to begin in November 2026 and commissioning in March 2029, with seven additional permanent jobs. The project is significant for feed mills, seed suppliers and cooperatives, but its capacity and environmental benefits must be measured after the equipment operates.

Original source

Primary source and original publication: https://www.cargill.com/2026/cargill-invests-%24150m-to-expand-sunflower-processing-in-france