This is an overview of ADM and its in-house fleet of trucks. However, the company also owns barges, railcars, boats and oceangoing vessels. Now a Fortune 100 company, ADM had a humble origin.

George A. Archer and John W. Daniels began a linseed crushing business in Minneapolis in 1902. In the 119 years since then, the company has grown from a regional linseed oil business to a global leader in human and animal nutrition.

Growing the company

Archer and Daniels named their company the Archer-Daniels Linseed Company. In 1923, it acquired the Midland Linseed Products Co., and the Archer Daniels Midland Company, or ADM, was born. The company went public in 1924, and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

The company continued to grow and expand its products and services. It had milling and processing facilities and produced specialty foods. The company’s grain division began in 1927, and two years later, it expanded into soybeans and other products. It also acquired the Commander Larabee flour milling business.  

ADM’S founders – George A. Archer and John W. Daniels. (Photo: ADM)

Growth in the 1960s-1970s

In the 1960s, ADM sold its chemistry business and looked to exports as a new source of revenue. In 1963 the company built an export terminal on the Gulf of Mexico. A few years later, ADM entered the barge freight business. In 1969, ADM relocated its headquarters to Decatur, Illinois. The company expanded into Europe and South America, acquiring its first processing plants outside the United States in 1974. 

ADM Trucking is founded

To serve its own transportation needs ADM Trucking, Inc. was founded as a subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland Company in 1979. ADM Trucking, Inc. provided transportation services for food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed products and was also headquartered in Decatur. 

This in-house trucking endeavor has grown substantially since 1979 and is still transporting goods for its parent company and other customers. It offers truckload, less-than-truckload, expedited, flatbed, liquid tank, pneumatic, intermodal, hopper bottom and end dump transportation services.  The company also owns and operates an intermodal rail facility in Decatur that allows it to provide flexible intermodal shipping options.

ADM Trucking operates one of the largest privately owned bulk tank fleets in the world and ships billions of dollars of food-grade and industrial products annually. 

In 2014, ADM moved its global headquarters from Decatur to Chicago. In the latest Fortune 500 listing ADM is listed at 54. 

This infographic gives a quick overview of the size and scope of ADM. (Image: ADM)