Item 1. BUSINESS

GENERAL

Founded in 1935, Tyson Foods, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is one of the world's largest food companies with leading brands such as Tyson®, Jimmy Dean®, Hillshire Farm®, Sara Lee®, Ball Park®, Wright®, Aidells® and State Fair®. We are a recognized market leader in chicken, beef and pork as well as prepared foods, including bacon, breakfast sausage, turkey, lunchmeat, hot dogs, pizza crusts and toppings, tortillas and desserts. Our operations are conducted in four reportable segments: Chicken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods. Some of the key factors influencing our business are customer demand for our products; the ability to maintain and grow relationships with customers and introduce new and innovative products to the marketplace; accessibility of international markets; market prices for our products; the cost and availability of live cattle and hogs, raw materials, grain and feed ingredients; and operating efficiencies of our facilities.

We operate a fully vertically integrated chicken production process. Our integrated operations consist of breeding stock, contract growers, feed production, processing, further-processing, marketing and transportation of chicken and related allied products, including animal and pet food ingredients. Through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Cobb-Vantress, Inc. (Cobb), we are one of the leading poultry breeding stock suppliers in the world. Investing in breeding stock research and development allows us to breed into our flocks the characteristics found to be most desirable.

We also process live fed cattle and hogs and fabricate dressed beef and pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts, case ready beef and pork and fully-cooked meats. In addition, we derive value from allied products such as hides and variety meats sold to further processors and others.

We produce a wide range of fresh, value-added, frozen and refrigerated food products. Our products are marketed and sold primarily by our sales staff to grocery retailers, grocery wholesalers, meat distributors, warehouse club stores, military commissaries, industrial food processing companies, chain restaurants or their distributors, live markets, international export companies and domestic distributors who serve restaurants, foodservice operations such as plant and school cafeterias, convenience stores, hospitals and other vendors. Additionally, sales to the military and a portion of sales to international markets are made through independent brokers and trading companies.

On August 28, 2014, we acquired and consolidated The Hillshire Brands Company ("Hillshire Brands"), a manufacturer and marketer of branded, convenient foods. Hillshire Brands results of operations are included in the Prepared Foods segment. For further description of this transaction, refer to Part II, Item 8, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 3: Acquisitions and Dispositions.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION OF SEGMENTS

We operate in four reportable segments: Chicken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods. Following the sale of the Mexico and Brazil operations in fiscal 2015, we began reporting our international operation, which was previously reported as the International segment, in Other. Other now includes our foreign chicken production operations in China and India and third-party merger and integration costs. All periods presented have been reclassified to reflect this change. Chicken, Beef, Pork and Prepared Foods results were not impacted by this change. For further description of the sale of the Mexico and Brazil operations, refer to Part II, Item 8, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 3: Acquisitions and Dispositions. The contribution of each segment to net sales and operating income (loss), and the identifiable assets attributable to each segment, are set forth in Part II, Item 8, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 17: Segment Reporting.

DESCRIPTION OF SEGMENTS

Chicken: Chicken includes our domestic operations related to raising and processing live chickens into fresh, frozen and value-added chicken products, as well as sales from allied products. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international export markets. This segment also includes logistics operations to move products through our domestic supply chain and the global operations of our chicken breeding stock subsidiary.

Beef: Beef includes our operations related to processing live fed cattle and fabricating dressed beef carcasses into primal and sub-primal meat cuts and case-ready products. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international export markets. This segment also includes sales from allied products such as hides and variety meats, as well as logistics operations to move products through the supply chain.

Pork: Pork includes our operations related to processing live market hogs and fabricating pork carcasses into primal and sub-primal cuts and case-ready products. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international export markets. This segment also includes our live swine group, related allied product processing activities and logistics operations to move products through the supply chain.

Prepared Foods: Prepared Foods includes our operations related to manufacturing and marketing frozen and refrigerated food products and logistics operations to move products through the supply chain. On August 28, 2014, we completed the acquisition of Hillshire Brands, a manufacturer and marketer of branded, convenient foods which includes brands such as Jimmy Dean®, Ball Park®, Hillshire Farm®, State Fair®, Van's®, Sara Lee® and Chef Pierre® pies as well as artisanal brands Aidells®, Gallo Salame®, and Golden Island® premium jerky. Hillshire Brands' results from operations are reported in the Prepared Foods segment from the date of acquisition. Products primarily include pepperoni, bacon, breakfast sausage, turkey, lunchmeat, hot dogs, pizza crusts and toppings, flour and corn tortilla products, desserts, appetizers, prepared meals, ethnic foods, soups, sauces, side dishes, meat dishes, breadsticks and processed meats. Products are marketed domestically to food retailers, foodservice distributors, restaurant operators, hotel chains and noncommercial foodservice establishments such as schools, healthcare facilities, the military and other food processors, as well as to international export markets.

RAW MATERIALS AND SOURCES OF SUPPLY

Chicken: The primary raw materials used in our domestic chicken operations are corn and soybean meal used as feed and live chickens raised primarily by independent contract growers. Our vertically-integrated chicken process begins with the grandparent breeder flocks and ends with broilers for processing. Breeder flocks (i.e., grandparents) are raised to maturity in grandparent growing and laying farms where fertile eggs are produced. Fertile eggs are incubated at the grandparent hatchery and produce pullets (i.e., parents). Pullets are sent to breeder houses, and the resulting eggs are sent to our hatcheries. Once chicks have hatched, they are sent to broiler farms. There, contract growers care for and raise the chicks according to our standards, with advice from our technical service personnel, until the broilers reach the desired processing weight. Adult chickens are transported to processing plants where they are slaughtered and converted into finished products, which are then sent to distribution centers and delivered to customers.

We operate our own feed mills to produce scientifically-formulated feeds. In fiscal 2015, corn, soybean meal and other feed ingredients were major production costs, representing roughly 64% of our cost of growing a live chicken domestically. In addition to feed ingredients to grow the chickens, we use cooking ingredients, packaging materials and cryogenic agents. We believe our sources of supply for these materials are adequate for our present needs, and we do not anticipate any difficulty in acquiring these materials in the future. While we produce nearly all our inventory of breeder chickens and live broilers, we also purchase live, ice-packed or deboned chicken to meet production and sales requirements.

Beef: The primary raw materials used in our beef operations are live cattle. We do not have facilities of our own to raise cattle but employ cattle buyers located throughout cattle producing areas who visit independent feed yards and public auctions and buy live cattle on the open spot market. These buyers are trained to select high quality animals, and we continually measure their performance. We also enter into various risk-sharing and procurement arrangements with producers to secure a supply of livestock for our facilities. Although we generally expect adequate supply of live cattle in the regions we operate, there may be periods of imbalance in supply and demand.

Pork: The primary raw materials used in our pork operations are live hogs. The majority of our live hog supply is obtained through various procurement relationships with independent producers. We employ hog buyers who make purchase agreements of various time durations as well as purchase hogs on a daily basis, generally a few days before the animals are processed. These buyers are trained to select high quality animals, and we continually measure their performance. We believe the supply of live hogs is adequate for our present needs. Additionally, we raise a small number of weanling swine to sell to independent finishers and supply a minimal amount of market hogs and live swine for our own processing needs.

Prepared Foods: The primary raw materials used in our prepared foods operations are commodity based raw materials, including chicken, beef, pork, turkey, corn, flour, vegetables and other cooking ingredients. Some of these raw materials are provided by our other segments, while others may be purchased from numerous suppliers and manufacturers. We believe the sources of supply of raw materials are adequate for our present needs.

SEASONAL DEMAND

Demand for chicken, beef, and certain prepared foods products, such as hot dogs and smoked sausage, generally increases during the spring and summer months and generally decreases during the winter months. Pork and certain other prepared foods products, such as prepared meals, meat dishes, appetizers, frozen pies and breakfast sausage, generally experience increased demand during the winter months, primarily due to the holiday season, while demand generally decreases during the spring and summer months.

CUSTOMERS

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. accounted for 16.8% of our fiscal 2015 consolidated sales. Sales to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. were included in all of our segments. Any extended discontinuance of sales to this customer could, if not replaced, have a material impact on our operations. No other single customer or customer group represented more than 10% of fiscal 2015 consolidated sales.

COMPETITION

Our food products compete with those of other food producers and processors and certain prepared food manufacturers. Additionally, our food products compete in markets around the world.

We seek to achieve a leading market position for our products via our principal marketing and competitive strategy, which includes:

•	identifying target markets for value-added products;

•	concentrating production, sales and marketing efforts to appeal to and enhance demand from those markets; and

•	utilizing our national distribution systems and customer support services.

Past efforts indicate customer demand can be increased and sustained through application of our marketing strategy, as supported by our distribution systems. The principal competitive elements are price, product safety and quality, brand identification, innovation, breadth and depth of product offerings, availability of products, customer service and credit terms.

FOREIGN OPERATIONS

We sold products in approximately 130 countries in fiscal 2015. Major sales markets include Brazil, Canada, Central America, China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, South Korea, and Taiwan.

We have the following foreign operations:

•	Cobb-Vantress, a chicken breeding stock subsidiary, has business interests in Argentina, Brazil, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Venezuela.

•	Tyson Rizhao, located in Rizhao, China, is a vertically-integrated chicken production operation.

•	Tyson Dalong, a joint venture in China in which we have a majority interest, is a chicken further-processing facility.

•	Tyson Nantong, located in Nantong, China, is a vertically-integrated chicken production operation.

•	Godrej Tyson Foods, a joint venture in India in which we have a majority interest, is a chicken processing business.

•	Tyson Mexico Trading Company, a Mexican subsidiary, sells chicken products primarily though co-packer arrangements.

We continue to evaluate growth opportunities in foreign countries. Additional information regarding export sales and long-lived assets located in foreign countries is set forth in Part II, Item 8, Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 17: Segment Reporting.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

We conduct continuous research and development activities to improve product development, to automate manual processes in our processing plants and growout operations, and to improve chicken breeding stock. Our Discovery Centers include a 100,000 square foot research and development facility in Springdale, Arkansas with 19 research kitchens and a USDA-inspected pilot plant. We also lease an approximately 78,000 square foot research and development facility outside Chicago, Illinois assumed in our Hillshire Brands acquisition, which includes five test kitchens and a USDA-inspected pilot plant. The Discovery Centers enable us to bring new market-leading retail and foodservice products to the customer quickly and efficiently. Research and development costs totaled $75 million, $52 million, and $50 million in fiscal 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION AND FOOD SAFETY

Our facilities for processing chicken, beef, pork, turkey and prepared foods, milling feed and housing live chickens and swine are subject to a variety of international, federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, which include provisions relating to the discharge of materials into the environment and generally provide for protection of the environment. We believe we are in substantial compliance with such applicable laws and regulations and are not aware of any violations of such laws and regulations likely to result in material penalties or material increases in compliance costs. The cost of compliance with such laws and regulations has not had a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position, and except as described below, is not anticipated to have a material adverse effect in the future.

Congress, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and some states continue to consider various options to control greenhouse gas emissions. It is unclear at this time what options, if any, will be finalized, and whether such options would have a direct impact on the Company. Due to continuing uncertainty surrounding this issue, it is premature to speculate on the specific nature of impacts that imposition of greenhouse gas emission controls would have on us and whether such impacts would have a material adverse effect.

We work to ensure our products meet high standards of food safety and quality. In addition to our own internal Food Safety and Quality Assurance oversight and review, our chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods products are subject to inspection prior to distribution, primarily by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We are also participants in the United States Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program and are subject to the Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures and the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Additionally, our foreign operations are subject to various other food safety and quality assurance oversight and review.

EMPLOYEES AND LABOR RELATIONS

As of October 3, 2015, we employed approximately 113,000 employees. Approximately 107,000 employees were employed in the United States and 6,000 employees were employed in foreign countries, primarily in China. Approximately 31,000 employees in the United States were subject to collective bargaining agreements with various labor unions, with approximately 12% of those employees included under agreements expiring in fiscal 2016. The remaining agreements expire over the next several years. Approximately 5,000 employees in foreign countries were subject to collective bargaining agreements. We believe our overall relations with our workforce are good.

MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION

Our principal marketing objective is to be the leading branded provider of protein-based solutions for our consumers and customers across chicken, turkey, beef, pork and prepared foods. We grow our leading brands (Tyson®, Jimmy Dean®, Hillshire Farm®, Sara Lee®, Ball Park®, Wright®, Aidells® and State Fair®) while supporting strong regional and emerging brands primarily through consumer engagement marketing plans focused on core consumer targets leveraging proprietary research and insights. Our insights ensure we maintain relevancy and are consistently meeting the needs of our consumer and customer partners. We utilize our national distribution system and customer support services to achieve the leading market position for our products.

We have the ability to produce and ship fresh, frozen and refrigerated products worldwide. Domestically, our distribution system extends to a broad network of food distributors and is supported by our owned or leased cold storage warehouses, public cold storage facilities and our transportation system. Our distribution centers accumulate fresh and frozen products so we can fill and consolidate partial-truckload orders into full truckloads, thereby decreasing shipping costs while increasing customer service. In addition, we provide our customers a wide selection of products that do not require large volume orders. Our distribution system enables us to supply large or small quantities of products to meet customer requirements anywhere in the continental United States. Internationally, we utilize both rail and truck refrigerated transportation to domestic ports, where consolidations take place to transport to foreign destinations.

PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS

We have filed a number of patents and trademarks relating to our processes and products that either have been approved or are in the process of application. Because we do a significant amount of brand name and product line advertising to promote our products, we consider the protection of our trademarks to be important to our marketing efforts. We also have developed non-public proprietary information regarding our production processes and other product-related matters. We utilize internal procedures and safeguards to protect the confidentiality of such information and, where appropriate, seek patent and/or trademark protection for the technology we utilize.

INDUSTRY PRACTICES

Our agreements with customers are generally short-term, primarily due to the nature of our products, industry practices and fluctuations in supply, demand and price for such products. In certain instances where we are selling further processed products to large customers, we may enter into written agreements whereby we will act as the exclusive or preferred supplier to the customer, with pricing terms that are either fixed or variable.

AVAILABILITY OF SEC FILINGS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE DOCUMENTS ON INTERNET WEBSITE

We maintain an internet website for investors at http://ir.tyson.com. On this website, we make available, free of charge, annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) reports, and all amendments to any of those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such reports with, or furnish to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Also available on the website for investors are the Corporate Governance Principles, Audit Committee charter, Compensation and Leadership Development Committee charter, Governance and Nominating Committee charter, Strategy and Acquisitions Committee charter, Code of Conduct and Whistleblower Policy. Our corporate governance documents are available in print, free of charge to any shareholder who requests them.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS RELEVANT TO FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSE OF “SAFE HARBOR” PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

Certain information in this report constitutes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, current views and estimates of our outlook for fiscal 2016, other future economic circumstances, industry conditions in domestic and international markets, our performance and financial results (e.g., debt levels, return on invested capital, value-added product growth, capital expenditures, tax rates, access to foreign markets and dividend policy). These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause our actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. We wish to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Among the factors that may cause actual results and experiences to differ from anticipated results and expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are the following: (i) the effect of, or changes in, general economic conditions; (ii) fluctuations in the cost and availability of inputs and raw materials, such as live cattle, live swine, feed grains (including corn and soybean meal) and energy; (iii) market conditions for finished products, including competition from other global and domestic food processors, supply and pricing of competing products and alternative proteins and demand for alternative proteins; (iv) successful rationalization of existing facilities and operating efficiencies of the facilities; (v) risks associated with our commodity purchasing activities; (vi) access to foreign markets together with foreign economic conditions, including currency fluctuations, import/export restrictions and foreign politics; (vii) outbreak of a livestock disease (such as avian influenza (AI) or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)), which could have an adverse effect on livestock we own, the availability of livestock we purchase, consumer perception of certain protein products or our ability to access certain domestic and foreign markets; (viii) changes in availability and relative costs of labor and contract growers and our ability to maintain good relationships with employees, labor unions, contract growers and independent producers providing us livestock; (ix) issues related to food safety, including costs resulting from product recalls, regulatory compliance and any related claims or litigation; (x) changes in consumer preference and diets and our ability to identify and react to consumer trends; (xi) significant marketing plan changes by large customers or loss of one or more large customers; (xii) adverse results from litigation; (xiii) impacts on our operations caused by factors and forces beyond our control, such as natural disasters, fire, bioterrorism, pandemics or extreme weather; (xiv) risks associated with leverage, including cost increases due to rising interest rates or changes in debt ratings or outlook; (xv) compliance with and changes to regulations and laws (both domestic and foreign), including changes in accounting standards, tax laws, environmental laws, agricultural laws and occupational, health and safety laws; (xvi) our ability to make effective acquisitions or joint ventures and successfully integrate newly acquired businesses into existing operations; (xvii) failures or security breaches of our information technology systems; (xviii) effectiveness of advertising and marketing programs; and (xix) those factors listed under Item 1A. “Risk Factors.”