Conagra Brands began in 1919 as Nebraska Consolidated Mills, formed when Alva Kinney merged four Nebraska flour mills. It entered branded food by buying Duncan Hines in 1951, sold it in 1956, and adopted the ConAgra name in 1971. After nearly failing in the mid-1970s, the company was rebuilt by CEO Charles "Mike" Harper, who bought Banquet in 1980 and Beatrice in 1990 and launched Healthy Choice in 1989.
From agribusiness to branded food
By the 1990s ConAgra also processed meat, traded grain, and sold farm inputs. Those businesses had volatile margins, so from the early 2000s it sold its beef and pork operations and other commodity units, and in 2014 combined its flour milling arm with Cargill's in the Ardent Mills joint venture with CHS.
Ralcorp and the Connolly reset
In 2013 ConAgra bought private-label maker Ralcorp for about $5 billion plus debt. The deal disappointed. Sean Connolly, CEO from 2015, sold the private-label business to TreeHouse Foods in 2016, spun off Lamb Weston, moved headquarters to Chicago, and renamed the company Conagra Brands.
Pinnacle Foods and the freezer aisle
In October 2018 Conagra closed its roughly $10.9 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Foods, adding Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Vlasic, and Gardein. Frozen meals and vegetables became the core of the company, alongside snacks such as Slim Jim.
2026: a new CEO and a dividend cut
Net sales slipped from $12.28 billion in fiscal 2023 to $11.28 billion in fiscal 2026, and impairments produced a $1.92 billion fiscal 2026 net loss. John Brase became CEO on June 1, 2026, cut the dividend 50% to $0.70 a year, and guided to a 1% to 3% organic sales decline in fiscal 2027 while the company reinvests in brands and pays down debt.
