During the first decade of the twentieth century, Thomas C. Meadows, a Tennessee phos phate-mining entrepreneur, founded the International Agricultural Corp. International Agricultural, which had mines and plants in New Mexico and Tennessee, became a leading producer of phosphate rock and fertilizer. In 1941, the company changed its name to International Mineral & Chemical and moved its headquarters from Atlanta to Chicago. By the beginning of the 1960s, when its main offices were in Skokie, the company grossed about $130 million in annual sales and employed over 5,000 people around the country but only a few in the Chicago area. By the end of the 1990s, the company was called IMC Global; it had over $2 billion in annual revenues and employed about 250 people at its corporate headquarters in suburban Northbrook. In the early 2000s, the company's headquarters moved to nearby Lake Forest.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.