Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR)

You're looking at Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) because you know a company's mission and values are the bedrock for its financial performance, especially in a volatile market like renewable fuels.

But how does a mission focused on creating sustainable food, feed, and fuel ingredients translate into the $4.4 billion in net sales reported for the first nine months of 2025, or the full-year core ingredients Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $875 million to $900 million? We need to see if the core values-Integrity, Transparency, and Entrepreneurship-are truly driving their circular economy model, or if they are just words on a page.

Can a commitment to innovation truly buffer the financial headwind from the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture, which dragged nine-month net income down to just $5.9 million? Let's dig into the strategic blueprint that guides this global leader in bio-nutrients, and what it means for your investment thesis.

Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) Overview

You're looking for a clear picture of Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR)-a company that has quietly become a powerhouse in the circular economy. The direct takeaway is this: Darling Ingredients is a global leader turning waste into high-value products across three core areas: Feed, Food, and Fuel. The company's core ingredients business is performing exceptionally well, providing a crucial stability layer even as their renewable fuel segment navigates regulatory headwinds.

Darling Ingredients' story is a long one, tracing its roots back to the founding of Ira C. Darling & Company in Chicago in 1882. For over a century, the core business has been rendering-repurposing animal by-products and used cooking oil. That foundational concept of resource maximization is what drives their modern, diversified portfolio today. It's a massive, global-scale recycling operation, honestly.

The company now operates over 260 facilities in more than 15 countries, with its revenue streams clearly segmented:

• Feed Ingredients: Fats, proteins, and meals for animal nutrition, including pet food and livestock feed.
• Food Ingredients: High-purity products like collagen and gelatin for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and food industries.
• Fuel Ingredients: Renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced through its Diamond Green Diesel (DGD) joint venture.

As of the nine months ended September 27, 2025, Darling Ingredients reported total net sales of approximately $4.4 billion, a slight increase from the $4.3 billion reported in the same period in 2024. The company's trailing 12-months revenue as of September 2025 stood at roughly $5.84 billion, showing the scale of this operation. It's a defintely impressive transformation from a regional renderer to a global ingredients giant.

Q3 2025 Financial Performance: Core Business Strength

The third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025) results, released in October 2025, show a mixed but fundamentally strong performance, especially in the core ingredients segments. Total net sales for Q3 2025 were $1.6 billion, a solid beat over the previous year's $1.4 billion for the same quarter. This revenue growth underscores strong demand for their foundational products, which is a key indicator of business health.

Here's the quick math on where the momentum is building: the Feed segment generated a massive $1.03 billion in Q3 2025 revenue. This segment's Adjusted EBITDA jumped to $174 million, up significantly from $132 million in Q3 2024. The Food segment also saw a healthy increase, with its Adjusted EBITDA growing to $72 million from $57 million year-over-year. That's where the stability is coming from.

The main product in the Fuel segment, renewable diesel, saw Diamond Green Diesel (DGD) sell 250 million gallons of renewable fuel during Q3 2025. However, policy uncertainty, specifically around the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) from the U.S. EPA, has pressured profitability in this segment, leading to lower year-to-date net income. Still, management is confident enough in the core business to provide full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA guidance for the core ingredients business (excluding DGD) in the range of $875 million to $900 million.

Darling Ingredients: A Leader in Circularity and Sustainable Ingredients

Darling Ingredients isn't just another commodity player; it's a pioneer in circularity-the process of keeping resources in use for as long as possible. The company's integrated model, which captures and converts materials across the animal agriculture and food industries, gives it an unmatched position in the industry. They are a crucial link in the global supply chain for sustainable ingredients.

To be fair, the numbers speak for themselves on their market leadership:

• Processes approximately 15% of the world's animal agricultural by-products.
• Produces roughly 30% of the world's collagen (both gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen).

This massive scale and control over high-quality, low-carbon feedstock are why they are one of the world's largest producers of renewable energy. The sheer volume of material they process, and the high-value products they create from it, is the engine of their success. If you want to dive deeper into the nuts and bolts of the balance sheet, you should find out more below to understand why Darling Ingredients is so successful: Breaking Down Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) Mission Statement

You're looking for the bedrock of Darling Ingredients Inc.'s strategy, and it all starts with their mission. The core takeaway is clear: Darling Ingredients is a pioneer in the circular economy, with a mission focused on creating sustainable food, feed, and fuel ingredients for a growing global population. This isn't just a feel-good statement; it's the operational map that guides their capital allocation and innovation, translating directly into their financial performance.

This mission is the engine for their long-term goals, specifically their commitment to repurpose and recycle materials from the animal agriculture and food industries into essential, high-value ingredients. We can see this commitment in their latest financial results: for the nine months ended September 27, 2025, the company reported total net sales of $4.4 billion, demonstrating the scale of their circular business model. That's a defintely solid foundation, even with market volatility in the fuel segment.

Their mission is broken down into three concrete pillars-Nourish People, Feed Animals and Crops, and Fuel the World-which are supported by core values like Integrity, Transparency, and Entrepreneurship. Here's the quick math: if your mission doesn't directly connect to your revenue streams, it's just marketing. For Darling Ingredients, the mission is the business model.

To learn more about the company's background and how these principles have evolved, you can check out Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Pillar 1: Creating Sustainable Food Ingredients (Nourishing People)

The first component of the mission is about transforming by-products into ingredients that directly nourish people, focusing on the high-end food and pharmaceutical markets. This segment is less cyclical than the fuel business, providing a steady base of value creation. The goal here is to maximize the use of natural resources through continuous improvement and innovation.

A concrete example of this commitment is the company's leadership in the collagen market. Darling Ingredients produces about 30% of the world's collagen, including both gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen. This is a massive market share built on the principle of circularity, turning what would be waste into a premium ingredient for food, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. This scale gives them a significant competitive advantage in pricing and supply chain control.

• Produce 30% of global collagen supply.
• Focus on high-quality, sustainable food ingredients.
• Drives stable revenue in the food segment.

Pillar 2: Creating Sustainable Feed Ingredients (Feeding Animals and Crops)

The second pillar tackles the massive global demand for sustainable animal nutrition and crop inputs. This is the company's heritage, taking inedible bio-nutrients and food residuals and transforming them into valuable proteins, fats, and fertilizers. The scale of this operation is staggering, and it's a key driver for the company's core ingredients business, which is expected to deliver an Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $875-900 million for the full year 2025.

Darling Ingredients processes about 15% of the world's animal agricultural by-products. That's a huge volume of material diverted from landfills, simultaneously creating high-protein meals for livestock and pet food, and fats for other industrial uses. This process is a clear demonstration of their commitment to sustainability, minimizing environmental impact while recovering resources.

What this estimate hides is the complexity of managing over 260 facilities in more than 15 countries, but the consistent production volume shows their operational excellence is tied directly to this mission component. They are a critical, often unseen, part of the global food supply chain.

Pillar 3: Creating Sustainable Fuel Ingredients (Fueling the World)

The final, and increasingly prominent, pillar is fueling the world with renewable energy, primarily through their Diamond Green Diesel (DGD) joint venture. This is where the mission meets the energy transition, turning waste fats and oils into renewable diesel. The near-term risk here is public policy uncertainty, but the long-term opportunity is immense.

The company's scale in this area is significant. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, Diamond Green Diesel sold 250 million gallons of renewable fuel. This production volume directly supports the global push for decarbonization, as renewable diesel significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional diesel.

The company's dedication to environmental leadership is not just a claim; it's a measurable action. For instance, in 2024, they reduced their Scope 1 and 2 emissions footprint by 5%, keeping them on track for their science-based target of a 42% reduction by 2030. This focus on measurable impact is why Darling Ingredients was awarded its first-ever ISS ESG Prime Status in January 2025.

Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) Vision Statement

You're looking for the bedrock of Darling Ingredients Inc.'s strategy, and it's right there in their vision: they want to be the most innovative and sustainable provider of natural ingredients globally. This isn't just corporate-speak; it's a clear mandate that directly maps to their capital allocation and operational focus, especially as their core business holds up the volatile fuel segment.

The vision is a two-part commitment-innovation and sustainability-aiming to contribute to a healthier planet and a more sustainable world. To a financial analyst, this means their long-term value is tied to their ability to execute on their circular business model (repurposing waste) while managing the near-term volatility in the renewable fuel market. It's a defintely a high-stakes balancing act.

Vision: The Most Innovative and Sustainable Provider

Darling Ingredients' vision to be the most innovative and sustainable provider is a direct reflection of their massive investment in the Diamond Green Diesel (DGD) joint venture. Innovation here means scaling up production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), which is a key growth lever. The company is actively upgrading its facilities, evidenced by the $224.0 million in capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2025 alone, a clear sign of commitment to this innovative future.

The sustainability side is quantified by their climate targets. They are working toward a 42% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030, a goal aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Near-term, they are managing towards short-term targets to reduce water and energy intensity by 5% from 2020 to 2025. Innovation isn't cheap, but it's the only path to de-risking the business from traditional commodity cycles.

• Scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production.
• Reduce water and energy intensity by 5% by year-end 2025.
• Target 42% emissions reduction by 2030.

Mission: Restoring Purpose to Bio-Nutrients

The mission statement is the actionable part of the vision, describing how they will achieve their goals. Darling Ingredients' mission is to restore purpose to millions of tons of material from the animal agriculture and food industries-a process they simplify as: nourishing people, feeding animals and crops, and fueling the world with renewable energy. This circular business model is the engine driving their financial performance.

For the first nine months of 2025, the company reported total net sales of $4.4 billion, demonstrating the sheer scale of their global operation in repurposing these bio-nutrients. The 'fueling the world' part is concrete: the DGD joint venture sold 717.7 million gallons of renewable fuel in the first nine months of 2025, which is a massive volume of product derived from waste streams. This mission is not abstract; it's a high-volume, global logistics operation. You can dig deeper into how these segments perform in Breaking Down Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Here's the quick math on the core business: management estimates the core ingredients (excluding the volatile DGD) Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2025 will be approximately $875 million to $900 million. This steady profit base is what allows them to absorb the volatility of the fuel segment, where lower earnings at DGD drove the year-to-date net income down to just $5.9 million for the first nine months of 2025, compared to a much higher figure the year before.

Core Values in Action: Integrity, Transparency, and Entrepreneurship

Darling Ingredients grounds its operations in three core values: integrity, transparency, and entrepreneurship. These values are the guardrails for their global execution, especially in a business that deals with complex supply chains and regulatory environments (like the public policy uncertainty around the Fuel segment). Integrity and transparency are critical for maintaining stakeholder trust when managing a total debt outstanding of $4.01 billion as of September 27, 2025.

Entrepreneurship is the value that drives their constant search for new value from waste streams, which is why they are a global leader in producing about 30% of the world's collagen (gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen). It's the entrepreneurial mindset that pushes them to find new markets and applications for materials that would otherwise be discarded. They have to keep innovating to justify the valuation.

Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) Core Values

You're looking for a clear map of what drives Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) beyond the balance sheet, and that's smart. A company's values are the bedrock for its long-term financial resilience. For Darling Ingredients, a business built on circularity-repurposing agri-food waste-their core values are the engine for their Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money model. They focus on three foundational values: Integrity, Transparency, and Entrepreneurship, plus a deep commitment to Sustainability and Safety.

Here's the quick math on their operations: as of September 30, 2025, their trailing 12-month revenue was a solid $5.84 billion, showing these values translate into real-world performance. That kind of scale defintely needs a strong ethical backbone.

Integrity

Integrity means conducting business ethically, honestly, and fairly, and it's non-negotiable for a global company dealing with complex supply chains. This value ensures that every transaction, from sourcing raw materials to delivering specialty ingredients, meets the highest ethical standards. It's about building trust, which is a critical, intangible asset in the ingredients and renewable fuel space.

Darling Ingredients backs this up with a comprehensive compliance program and a clear Code of Conduct, available in eight languages to guide its global workforce. They hold themselves and their suppliers to the highest standards of animal welfare and environmental stewardship. If you're a stakeholder, you need to know the company isn't cutting corners, and their commitment to ethical sourcing is a clear signal.

Transparency

You need to see the numbers and the process, and Transparency is how Darling Ingredients provides that view. It means operating with openness and straightforwardness in reporting goals, results, and practices. This isn't just a feel-good policy; it's a governance necessity, especially for a company with a market capitalization of around $5.07 billion as of late October 2025.

A key example is their governance structure. As of March 20, 2025, their Board of Directors demonstrates a commitment to diversity with 30% diverse representation. Also, they maintain a 'Speak Up Line,' an independent, 24/7/365 reporting service for employees and third parties to anonymously report suspected violations of their Code of Conduct, which is a concrete step toward accountability.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship, in this context, is about operating with the knowledge, passion, and determination to maximize the use of natural resources. It's what drives their innovation engine. This value is why they are a leader in the circular economy, turning materials that would otherwise be waste into valuable products for the food, feed, and fuel segments.

The biggest recent example is their investment in the Fuel segment, specifically in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). In the first nine months of 2025, Darling Ingredients reported capital expenditures of $224.0 million, a significant portion of which is dedicated to growth projects like upgrading their Diamond Green Diesel joint venture to produce SAF. This investment is a direct entrepreneurial action to capture a high-growth, high-value market.

Sustainability & Environmental Stewardship

Sustainability is core to the business model, not just an add-on. Their mission-repurposing agri-food waste streams-is inherently sustainable. They are actively managing toward ambitious environmental targets.

Here are their current environmental commitments and progress:

• Target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% by 2030 against a 2023 baseline.
• Reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 5% in 2024 compared to 2023.
• Continued work toward their short-term global target to reduce water and energy intensity by 5% from 2020 to 2025.

They are committed to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 within their own operations, which is a long-term, capital-intensive promise.

Workforce Wellbeing and Safety

The company views its employees as the driving force behind its mission. Safety is integrated into strategic planning and daily operations, ensuring a safe and healthy environment for its roughly 16,000 global employees.

This focus delivers tangible results. In 2024, the company saw a 45% reduction in its Lost Time Incident Rate (LTIR) compared to 2023, a massive improvement in protecting their people. Plus, they invest in communities, like their partnership with the National FFA Organization, where they donated more than $314,000 in 2024 for grants and scholarships. That's a clear commitment to the future workforce and the communities they operate in.