Cargill taps AI to get more meat off bone as U.S. herd slumps

By Erin Ailworth and Isis Almeida

Cargill Inc. is turning to artificial intelligence to ensure it gets more beef from its processing plants as the U.S. cattle herd dwindles to the lowest level in seven decades.

The world’s largest agricultural commodities trader is using proprietary AI-assisted camera technology to provide teams at its meat plants with real-time feedback on how much meat is being left on the bone, according to Chief Executive Officer Brian Sikes. The technology, which is helping the company improve productivity, was first tested at a Friona, Texas, facility and is now being rolled out more broadly.

“If we can improve yields across the industries 1 percent, that’s over 200 million pounds of food — meat that ends up on tables and in bellies and not in rendering,” Sikes said Thursday at the World Food Prize Foundation’s Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa. He described how workers are alerted via a system that uses red, yellow and green smiley faces “that gives them instant feedback on what’s being left on the bone that could come off.”

The move comes as cattle prices soared to unprecedented levels this year due to a severe shortage, driving up the cost of beef for consumers and squeezing profits for meatpackers, including Cargill and rivals JBS NV and Tyson Foods Inc. Surging costs caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who this week released a plan to encourage ranching and boost domestic beef production. The administration also plans to import more beef from Argentina to cool prices.

Related: Partnerships strengthen the beef industry

Cargill is also using AI technology to train teams and to ensure safety in jobs that often require repetitive motion, Sikes said. Further, it is using AI in its ocean transportation business, and in its port business, where the technology is helping predict things like time and moisture levels.

“I do believe it’s the most transformative technology or innovation of my lifetime,” Sikes said. “There will be companies that embrace this and those that don’t, and I think we’ll look back in a decade, and those that don’t embrace the opportunities that it brings will be in the graveyard.”

Sikes doesn’t expect that AI will replace people in the agriculture industry. The technology will instead help workers. “If you get replaced, it will be by somebody that’s willing to engage with the technology,” he said.

Cargill, which counts at least a dozen billionaires among its shareholders, is owned by the heirs of William Wallace Cargill. The largest private company in the U.S. has been restructuring its business for more than a year, having already cut its business units to three from five.

Related: Understanding and mitigating cattle methane emissions

The company’s net income surged 86 percent in the first quarter ended Aug. 31, as it benefited from President Donald Trump’s tax bill and better performance in all its business segments, according to accounts seen by Bloomberg.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.