Cargill
Encyclopedia
Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation
based in Minnetonka
, Minnesota
. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation
in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company
, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500
, behind AT&T
and ahead of JP Morgan Chase. Some of Cargill's major businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grain
and other agricultural commodities
; trading in energy, steel
and transport; the manufacture of livestock
and feed
; producing food ingredients such as starch
and glucose syrup
, vegetable oils and fats for application in processed foods and industrial use. Cargill also operates a large financial services
arm, which manages financial risks in the commodity markets for the company. In 2003, it split off a portion of its financial operations into a hedge fund
called Black River Asset Management, with about $10 billion of assets and liabilities. It owned 2/3 of the shares of The Mosaic Company
(sold off in 2011), one of the world's leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate
and potash
crop nutrients.
Cargill declared revenues of $116.6 billion and earnings of $3.33 billion in the 2009 fiscal year. Employing over 130,000 employees in 66 countries, it is responsible for 25% of all United States grain exports. The company also supplies about 22% of the US domestic meat market, exporting more product from Argentina
than any other company and is the largest poultry
producer in Thailand
. All of the eggs used in McDonald's
restaurants in the US pass through Cargill's plants. It is the only producer of Alberger process
salt in the US, which is highly prized in the fast-food and prepared food industries.
Cargill remains a family-owned business
, as descendants of the founder (from the Cargill and MacMillan families
) own over 85% of the company. As a result, most of its growth has been due to reinvestment of the company's own earnings rather than public financing. Gregory R. Page
, who is not part of either the Cargill or MacMillan families, is the chief executive officer
of Cargill. He succeeded former CEO Warren Staley
in mid-2007, as Staley hit Cargill's mandatory retirement age of 65.
Cargill was founded in 1865 by William W. Cargill when he bought a grain flat house in Conover
, Iowa
. A year later William was joined by his brother, Sam, forming W.W. Cargill and Brother. Together they built grain flat houses and opened a lumberyard. In 1875, Cargill moved to La Crosse
, Wisconsin
, and brother, James, joined the family business. The city of La Crosse was strategically located at the junction of the Milwaukee Road railroad and the Southern Minnesota Division. Sam Cargill left La Crosse in 1887 and moved to Minneapolis to manage the office there, which was identified as an important emerging grain center. Three years later the Minneapolis operation incorporated under Cargill Elevator Co., years after that the La Crosse operation was incorporated under W.W. Cargill Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin. In 1898, John H. MacMillan, Sr., and his brother, Daniel, began working for W.W. Cargill. John MacMillan then married William Cargill's eldest daughter, Edna. Upon Sam Cargill's death in 1903, William Cargill became the sole owner of the La Crosse office. John MacMillan was named as general manager of Cargill Elevator Company and moved his family to Minneapolis. William Cargill died in 1909, creating a fiscal crisis for the company. MacMillan worked to resolve the credit issues and to force his brother-in-law, William S., out of the company. The current owners are descended from John MacMillan's two sons, John H. MacMillan, Jr., and Cargill MacMillan, Sr., and his youngest brother-in-law, Austen S. Cargill I.
John MacMillan ran the company until his retirement in 1936. Under his leadership Cargill grew several fold, expanding out of the Midwest by opening its first East coast offices, in New York, in 1923, and the first Canadian, European and Latin American offices in 1928, 1929 and 1930. During this time, Cargill saw both record profits and major cash crunches. The first of these crises was the debt left by the death of W.W. Cargill. The company issued $2.25 million in Gold Notes, backed by Cargill stock to pay off its creditors. The Gold Notes were due in 1917, but thanks to record grain prices caused by World War I
all debts were paid back in 1915. As World War I continued into 1917, Cargill made record earnings and faced criticisms of war profiteering. Four years later, as a fallout from the financial crash of 1920, Cargill posted its first loss.
One of the company's biggest criticisms has been its perceived arrogance. See, for example, Brewster Kneen in the Ecologist and also Greg Muttitt in the same journal. The MacMillans' aggressive management style led to a decades long feud with the Chicago Board of Trade
. The feud began in 1934, when the Board denied membership to Cargill. The US government overturned the Board's ruling and forced it to accept Cargill as a member. The 1936 corn crop failed and with the 1937 crop unavailable until October, the Chicago Board of Trade ordered Cargill to sell some of its corn. Cargill refused to comply. The US Commodity Exchange Authority and Chicago Board of Trade accused Cargill of trying to corner the corn market. In 1938, the Chicago Board suspended Cargill and three of its officers from the trading floor. When the Board lifted its suspension a few years later, Cargill refused to rejoin. Cargill instead traded through independent traders. In 1962, Cargill did rejoin the Chicago Board of Trade, two years after the death of John MacMillan, Jr. During World War II
, MacMillan, Jr., continued to expand the company, which boomed as it stored and transported grain and built ships for the United States Navy
.
In 1960, Erwin Kelm became the first non-family chief executive. Aiming expansion downstream
, he led the company into milling, starch
es and syrup
s. As the company got larger, it developed among the market intelligence
of any in the world as it coordinated its commodities trading, processing, freight, shipping and futures
businesses. In the decades before email
, the company relied on its own telex-based system to connect the company.
When the Soviet Union
entered the grain markets in the 1970s, demand grew to unprecedented levels to the benefit of Cargill. When Whitney MacMillan
, nephew of John, Jr., took over the company from Kelm in 1976, revenue approached $30 billion. US government put pressure on big grain exporters on allegations of manipulating the market, and Cargill was a major target; however it emerged without any major changes.
Tensions arose with the company's private shareholders, as Cargill typically put 80% of earnings back into the business. By the early 1990s, members of the Cargill and MacMillan families became upset that their shares in the company were only giving back mediocre dividend
s. Demands rose for an initial public offering
to turn the company public. The company responded with an employee stock ownership plan, and in 1993 reportedly purchased 17% of the firm for $730 million from 72 Cargills and MacMillans. It used that stake to begin the employee stock plan. The company's board of directors
was reorganized to reduce the number of relatives to six, alongside six independents and five managers.
Ernest Micek took over as chief executive in August 1995. Cargill underwent turmoil in the following years as its financial unit lost hundreds of millions of dollars in 1998 when Russia defaulted on debt and developing countries began to have financial issues. The commodities and ingredients business, which was 75% of Cargill's total revenue, suffered from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Revenues fell by double-digit percentages for two years in a row: from $55.7 billion in 1997 to $51.4 billion in 1998 and $45.7 billion in 1999, while net income fell from $814 million in 1997 to $468 million in 1998, and $220 million in 1999. By 1999, the company had $4 billion in debt. After a reduction in previously strong bond credit rating
, Micek announced he would step down a year early.
Warren Staley
became chief executive and continued expanding the company and it rebounded. By 2002, Cargill had over $50 billion in annual sales, twice the amount of its closest rival, Archer Daniels Midland
, and had 97,000 employees running more than 1,000 production sites and out of 59 countries. On June 1, 2007, Staley was succeeded by Gregory R. Page
.
Cargill's quarterly profits crossed $1 billion for the first time during the quarter ending on February 29, 2008 ($1.03 billion); the 86% rise was credited to global food shortages and the expanding biofuel
s industry that, in turn, caused a rise in demand for Cargill's core areas of agricultural commodities and technology.
In October 2011, the U.S. Justice Department announced that a biotech specialist at Cargill had pleaded guiltly to stealing information from Cargill and Dow AgroSciences
. Kexue Huang, a Chinese national, was discovered to be passing trade secrets back to China.
policies. It lobbied for China
's membership in WTO and for increased trade with Cuba
and Brazil
. Cargill strongly supports neo-liberal economic principles as part of its business model. Firstly, Cargill fights for lesser trade barriers in countries where Cargill does have a business presence and it will lower prices on Cargill's products, so as to increase the volume of products sold. Secondly, decreases in the cost of food in developing countries theoretically results indirectly to higher income per capita however, lower income is returned to local farmers. Cargill benefits from increases in consumer income, because better-paid consumers become inclined to eat a diet higher in wheat, protein, vegetable oil, and processed foods. This improves opportunities for Cargill to sell its products. Cargill's economists have reasoned that this is true of the lower-income countries in particular. As a developing country grows in mean per-capita income, Cargill expects the greatest profit growth from its businesses in that country.
, China
, India
, Indonesia
, Japan
, Malaysia, Pakistan
, Philippines
, South Korea
, Singapore
, Sri Lanka
, Taiwan
, Thailand
, Vietnam
, Cote d'Ivoire
, Egypt
, Ghana
, Kenya
, Malawi
, Morocco
, Nigeria
, South Africa
, Tanzania
, Zimbabwe
, Zambia
, Dominican Republic
, Guatemala
, Honduras
, Nicaragua
, Belgium
, Denmark
, Finland
, France
, Germany
, Greece
, Hungary
, Ireland
, Italy
, Netherlands
, Poland
, Portugal
, Romania
, Russian Federation, Spain
, Sweden
, Switzerland
, Turkey
, Ukraine
, United Kingdom
, United Arab Emirates
, Bolivia
, Brazil
, Chile
, Colombia
, Paraguay
, Peru
, Uruguay
, Venezuela
. A fourth tier English football team.
and, as a business practice, keeps a relatively low profile. The company received praise from Temple Grandin
, well-known professor of animal science at Colorado State University, for allowing the Oprah Show to film the inside of a beef slaughter plant in Colorado.
filed suit against Cargill, Nestlé
and Archer Daniels Midland
in federal court on behalf of children who were trafficked from Mali
into the Ivory Coast and forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent physical abuse
on cocoa bean plantations.
Cargill is a major buyer of cotton in Uzbekistan
, despite its industry's prevalence of uncompensated workers and possible human rights abuses, and admissions made by two representatives that the company is aware of the possible use of child labor in the production of its crops. Their concerns have been public since 2005, but no action has been taken regarding labor violations existent in their Uzbek operations.
, a practice banned in most Western countries. Though intended for agricultural use, and not for human or animal consumption, some recipients used it as food, as the only printed warnings about the poison were written in English and Spanish, intended as warnings for American dock workers. This led to the deaths of 93 people.
In October 2007, Cargill announced the recall of nearly 850,000 frozen beef patties produced at its packing plant in Butler, Wisconsin
. The patties were suspected of being contaminated with E. coli. The beef was sold mainly at Walmart and Sam's Club
stores.
In March 2009, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
(AQIS) temporarily suspended Cargill Australia's license to export meat to Japan
and the US, after E. coli was detected in Cargill's export containers from its Wagga Wagga
plant. In late April 2009, AQIS lifted Cargill Australia's suspension on its export licence.
In August 2011, the USDA and Cargill jointly announced the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey produced at Cargill's Springdale, Arkansas
plant due to salmonella
fears. The meat recalled was produced from February, 20 to August 2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
announced that the particular strain of salmonella found was resistant to commonly prescribed antibiotics. At this time one death and seventy-six illnesses from twenty-six states have been reported. Some twenty-five types of ground turkey produced under various brand names are impacted, and all of the packages in question contain the code "Est. P-963." http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_060_2011_Release/index.asp
in Santarém
in the Amazon region of Brazil, dramatically increasing soya production in the area, and according to Greenpeace
, speeding up deforestation of local rain forest. In February 2006, the federal courts in Brazil gave Cargill six months to complete an environmental assessment (EA). Initially supported by job-seeking locals, public opinion turned against the port as jobs have not appeared. In July 2006, the federal prosecutor indicated they were close to shutting down the port. Greenpeace took its campaign to major food retailers and quickly won agreement from McDonald's
along with UK-retailers Asda
, Waitrose
and Marks & Spencer
to stop buying meat raised on Amazonian soya. These retailers in turn put pressure on Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland
, Bunge
, André Maggi Group
and Dreyfus
to prove their soya was not grown on recently deforested land in the Amazon. In July 2006, Cargill reportedly joined other soy businesses in Brazil in a two-year moratorium on the purchase of soybeans from newly deforested land.
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
based in Minnetonka
Minnetonka, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 51,301 people, 21,393 households, and 14,097 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,893.0 persons per square mile . There were 22,228 housing units at an average density of 818.9 per square mile...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
, behind AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
and ahead of JP Morgan Chase. Some of Cargill's major businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grain
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
and other agricultural commodities
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
; trading in energy, steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
and transport; the manufacture of livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
and feed
Fodder
Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin...
; producing food ingredients such as starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
and glucose syrup
Glucose syrup
Glucose syrup is a food syrup, made from the hydrolysis of starch. Maize is commonly used as the source of the starch in the USA, in which case the syrup is called "corn syrup", but glucose syrup is also made from other starch crops, including potatoes, wheat, barley, rice and cassavap.21...
, vegetable oils and fats for application in processed foods and industrial use. Cargill also operates a large financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
arm, which manages financial risks in the commodity markets for the company. In 2003, it split off a portion of its financial operations into a hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
called Black River Asset Management, with about $10 billion of assets and liabilities. It owned 2/3 of the shares of The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic Company is a Fortune 500 company based in Plymouth, Minnesota. Mosaic offers two key crop nutrients—phosphate and potash—plus specialty products K-Mag®, MicroEssentials® and Pegasus™...
(sold off in 2011), one of the world's leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
and potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
crop nutrients.
Cargill declared revenues of $116.6 billion and earnings of $3.33 billion in the 2009 fiscal year. Employing over 130,000 employees in 66 countries, it is responsible for 25% of all United States grain exports. The company also supplies about 22% of the US domestic meat market, exporting more product from Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
than any other company and is the largest poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
producer in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. All of the eggs used in McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
restaurants in the US pass through Cargill's plants. It is the only producer of Alberger process
Alberger process
The Alberger process is a method of producing salt.It involves mechanical evaporation, and uses an open evaporating pan and steam energy. It results in a unique, three-dimensional flake salt of extremely light bulk density. It is highly prized in the fast food industry, due to its low sodium and...
salt in the US, which is highly prized in the fast-food and prepared food industries.
Cargill remains a family-owned business
Family business
A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....
, as descendants of the founder (from the Cargill and MacMillan families
Cargill family
The Cargill family is one of the richest families in the world, holders of Cargill, the largest privately-held corporation in the United States. This secretive family are the descendents of William W. Cargill, who started the company in Iowa after the Civil War....
) own over 85% of the company. As a result, most of its growth has been due to reinvestment of the company's own earnings rather than public financing. Gregory R. Page
Gregory R. Page
Gregory R. Page is the president and CEO of Cargill, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He joined Cargill in 1974, and has served in various worldwide posts for the company, including serving as the corporate vice president of Excel Corporation , before becoming to its CEO...
, who is not part of either the Cargill or MacMillan families, is the chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Cargill. He succeeded former CEO Warren Staley
Warren Staley
Warren Staley is the former chief executive officer of Cargill, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.Staley is a graduate of Kansas State University , and Cornell University, receiving an M.B.A. from Cornell in 1967. He joined Cargill in 1969, became president and chief operating officer in 1998,...
in mid-2007, as Staley hit Cargill's mandatory retirement age of 65.
History
Conover, Iowa
Conover is a ghost town located in Winneshiek County, Iowa. It appears on the Fort Atkinson quadrangle of the United States Geological Survey topographic map and has been subsumed within the U.S...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
. A year later William was joined by his brother, Sam, forming W.W. Cargill and Brother. Together they built grain flat houses and opened a lumberyard. In 1875, Cargill moved to La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin
La Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city lies alongside the Mississippi River.The 2011 Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 52,485...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and brother, James, joined the family business. The city of La Crosse was strategically located at the junction of the Milwaukee Road railroad and the Southern Minnesota Division. Sam Cargill left La Crosse in 1887 and moved to Minneapolis to manage the office there, which was identified as an important emerging grain center. Three years later the Minneapolis operation incorporated under Cargill Elevator Co., years after that the La Crosse operation was incorporated under W.W. Cargill Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin. In 1898, John H. MacMillan, Sr., and his brother, Daniel, began working for W.W. Cargill. John MacMillan then married William Cargill's eldest daughter, Edna. Upon Sam Cargill's death in 1903, William Cargill became the sole owner of the La Crosse office. John MacMillan was named as general manager of Cargill Elevator Company and moved his family to Minneapolis. William Cargill died in 1909, creating a fiscal crisis for the company. MacMillan worked to resolve the credit issues and to force his brother-in-law, William S., out of the company. The current owners are descended from John MacMillan's two sons, John H. MacMillan, Jr., and Cargill MacMillan, Sr., and his youngest brother-in-law, Austen S. Cargill I.
John MacMillan ran the company until his retirement in 1936. Under his leadership Cargill grew several fold, expanding out of the Midwest by opening its first East coast offices, in New York, in 1923, and the first Canadian, European and Latin American offices in 1928, 1929 and 1930. During this time, Cargill saw both record profits and major cash crunches. The first of these crises was the debt left by the death of W.W. Cargill. The company issued $2.25 million in Gold Notes, backed by Cargill stock to pay off its creditors. The Gold Notes were due in 1917, but thanks to record grain prices caused by World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
all debts were paid back in 1915. As World War I continued into 1917, Cargill made record earnings and faced criticisms of war profiteering. Four years later, as a fallout from the financial crash of 1920, Cargill posted its first loss.
One of the company's biggest criticisms has been its perceived arrogance. See, for example, Brewster Kneen in the Ecologist and also Greg Muttitt in the same journal. The MacMillans' aggressive management style led to a decades long feud with the Chicago Board of Trade
Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade , established in 1848, is the world's oldest futures and options exchange. More than 50 different options and futures contracts are traded by over 3,600 CBOT members through open outcry and eTrading. Volumes at the exchange in 2003 were a record breaking 454 million...
. The feud began in 1934, when the Board denied membership to Cargill. The US government overturned the Board's ruling and forced it to accept Cargill as a member. The 1936 corn crop failed and with the 1937 crop unavailable until October, the Chicago Board of Trade ordered Cargill to sell some of its corn. Cargill refused to comply. The US Commodity Exchange Authority and Chicago Board of Trade accused Cargill of trying to corner the corn market. In 1938, the Chicago Board suspended Cargill and three of its officers from the trading floor. When the Board lifted its suspension a few years later, Cargill refused to rejoin. Cargill instead traded through independent traders. In 1962, Cargill did rejoin the Chicago Board of Trade, two years after the death of John MacMillan, Jr. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, MacMillan, Jr., continued to expand the company, which boomed as it stored and transported grain and built ships for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
.
In 1960, Erwin Kelm became the first non-family chief executive. Aiming expansion downstream
Downstream (manufacturing)
Downstream in manufacturing refers to processes that occur later on in a production sequence or production line.Viewing a company "from order to cash" might have high-level processes such as Marketing, Sales, Order Entry, Manufacturing, Packaging, Shipping, Invoicing...
, he led the company into milling, starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
es and syrup
Syrup
In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals...
s. As the company got larger, it developed among the market intelligence
Market Intelligence
Marketing Intelligence is the information relevant to a company’s markets, gathered and analyzed specifically for the purpose of accurate and confident decision-making in determining market opportunity, market penetration strategy, and market development metrics. Marketing intelligence is...
of any in the world as it coordinated its commodities trading, processing, freight, shipping and futures
Futures
-Finance:*Futures contract, a tradable financial contract*Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded*Futures , an American finance magazine-Music:*Futures , a 2004 release by Jimmy Eat World...
businesses. In the decades before email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, the company relied on its own telex-based system to connect the company.
When the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
entered the grain markets in the 1970s, demand grew to unprecedented levels to the benefit of Cargill. When Whitney MacMillan
Whitney MacMillan
Whitney MacMillan born 25 September 1929 in Hennepin County, Minnesota and attended Yale University. He led the private corporation Cargill from 1976 through 1995. During 10 years of that period he saw the business grow from $10 billion to $33 billion via diversification...
, nephew of John, Jr., took over the company from Kelm in 1976, revenue approached $30 billion. US government put pressure on big grain exporters on allegations of manipulating the market, and Cargill was a major target; however it emerged without any major changes.
Tensions arose with the company's private shareholders, as Cargill typically put 80% of earnings back into the business. By the early 1990s, members of the Cargill and MacMillan families became upset that their shares in the company were only giving back mediocre dividend
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
s. Demands rose for an initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
to turn the company public. The company responded with an employee stock ownership plan, and in 1993 reportedly purchased 17% of the firm for $730 million from 72 Cargills and MacMillans. It used that stake to begin the employee stock plan. The company's board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
was reorganized to reduce the number of relatives to six, alongside six independents and five managers.
Ernest Micek took over as chief executive in August 1995. Cargill underwent turmoil in the following years as its financial unit lost hundreds of millions of dollars in 1998 when Russia defaulted on debt and developing countries began to have financial issues. The commodities and ingredients business, which was 75% of Cargill's total revenue, suffered from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Revenues fell by double-digit percentages for two years in a row: from $55.7 billion in 1997 to $51.4 billion in 1998 and $45.7 billion in 1999, while net income fell from $814 million in 1997 to $468 million in 1998, and $220 million in 1999. By 1999, the company had $4 billion in debt. After a reduction in previously strong bond credit rating
Bond credit rating
In investment, the bond credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of a corporation's or government debt issues. It is analogous to credit ratings for individuals.-Table:...
, Micek announced he would step down a year early.
Warren Staley
Warren Staley
Warren Staley is the former chief executive officer of Cargill, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.Staley is a graduate of Kansas State University , and Cornell University, receiving an M.B.A. from Cornell in 1967. He joined Cargill in 1969, became president and chief operating officer in 1998,...
became chief executive and continued expanding the company and it rebounded. By 2002, Cargill had over $50 billion in annual sales, twice the amount of its closest rival, Archer Daniels Midland
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...
, and had 97,000 employees running more than 1,000 production sites and out of 59 countries. On June 1, 2007, Staley was succeeded by Gregory R. Page
Gregory R. Page
Gregory R. Page is the president and CEO of Cargill, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He joined Cargill in 1974, and has served in various worldwide posts for the company, including serving as the corporate vice president of Excel Corporation , before becoming to its CEO...
.
Cargill's quarterly profits crossed $1 billion for the first time during the quarter ending on February 29, 2008 ($1.03 billion); the 86% rise was credited to global food shortages and the expanding biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
s industry that, in turn, caused a rise in demand for Cargill's core areas of agricultural commodities and technology.
In October 2011, the U.S. Justice Department announced that a biotech specialist at Cargill had pleaded guiltly to stealing information from Cargill and Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
. Kexue Huang, a Chinese national, was discovered to be passing trade secrets back to China.
Political and economic views
Cargill is an active proponent of free tradeFree trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
policies. It lobbied for China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
's membership in WTO and for increased trade with Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Cargill strongly supports neo-liberal economic principles as part of its business model. Firstly, Cargill fights for lesser trade barriers in countries where Cargill does have a business presence and it will lower prices on Cargill's products, so as to increase the volume of products sold. Secondly, decreases in the cost of food in developing countries theoretically results indirectly to higher income per capita however, lower income is returned to local farmers. Cargill benefits from increases in consumer income, because better-paid consumers become inclined to eat a diet higher in wheat, protein, vegetable oil, and processed foods. This improves opportunities for Cargill to sell its products. Cargill's economists have reasoned that this is true of the lower-income countries in particular. As a developing country grows in mean per-capita income, Cargill expects the greatest profit growth from its businesses in that country.
Asia Pacific
AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Malaysia, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
Africa
CameroonCameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Cote d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
Central America and the Caribbean
Bonaire, Costa RicaCosta Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
Europe
AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Russian Federation, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Middle East
EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
South America
ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
Sponsorships
Since 2009/10 Cargill have been the chief shirt sponsors of Hereford United F.C.Hereford United F.C.
Hereford United Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Hereford. Founded in 1924, they are competing in Football League Two in the 2011–12 season. Hereford have played at Edgar Street for their entire history and are nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites',...
. A fourth tier English football team.
Criticism
Cargill has been subject to numerous criticisms over a number of topics including environmental issues, contamination and humans rights abuses. Further, as a private company, Cargill is not required to release the same amount of information as a publicly traded companyPublic company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
and, as a business practice, keeps a relatively low profile. The company received praise from Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior...
, well-known professor of animal science at Colorado State University, for allowing the Oprah Show to film the inside of a beef slaughter plant in Colorado.
Human rights abuses
In 2005, the International Labor Rights FundInternational Labor Rights Fund
The International Labor Rights Forum is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world". ILRF, formerly the International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund, was founded in 1986...
filed suit against Cargill, Nestlé
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
and Archer Daniels Midland
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...
in federal court on behalf of children who were trafficked from Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
into the Ivory Coast and forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent physical abuse
Abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...
on cocoa bean plantations.
Cargill is a major buyer of cotton in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, despite its industry's prevalence of uncompensated workers and possible human rights abuses, and admissions made by two representatives that the company is aware of the possible use of child labor in the production of its crops. Their concerns have been public since 2005, but no action has been taken regarding labor violations existent in their Uzbek operations.
Food contamination
In 1970, Cargill sold 63,000 tons of seed grain to Basra, Iraq treated with methylmercuryMethylmercury
Methylmercury is an organometallic cation with the formula . It is a bioaccumulative environmental toxicant.-Structure:...
, a practice banned in most Western countries. Though intended for agricultural use, and not for human or animal consumption, some recipients used it as food, as the only printed warnings about the poison were written in English and Spanish, intended as warnings for American dock workers. This led to the deaths of 93 people.
In October 2007, Cargill announced the recall of nearly 850,000 frozen beef patties produced at its packing plant in Butler, Wisconsin
Butler, Wisconsin
Butler is the name of some places in the U.S. state of Wisconsin:*Butler, Clark County, Wisconsin*Butler, Waukesha County, Wisconsin...
. The patties were suspected of being contaminated with E. coli. The beef was sold mainly at Walmart and Sam's Club
Sam's Club
Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...
stores.
In March 2009, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service is the Australian government agency responsible for enforcing Australian quarantine laws...
(AQIS) temporarily suspended Cargill Australia's license to export meat to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the US, after E. coli was detected in Cargill's export containers from its Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
Wagga Wagga is a city in New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, and with an urban population of 46,735 people, Wagga Wagga is the state's largest inland city, as well as an important agricultural, military, and transport hub of Australia...
plant. In late April 2009, AQIS lifted Cargill Australia's suspension on its export licence.
In August 2011, the USDA and Cargill jointly announced the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey produced at Cargill's Springdale, Arkansas
Springdale, Arkansas
As of the census of 2010, there were 69,797 people, 22,805 households, and 16,640 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 64.7% White, 0.82% Black or African American, 1.8% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 5.7% Pacific Islander, 22% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more...
plant due to salmonella
Salmonella
Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which grade in all directions . They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction...
fears. The meat recalled was produced from February, 20 to August 2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
announced that the particular strain of salmonella found was resistant to commonly prescribed antibiotics. At this time one death and seventy-six illnesses from twenty-six states have been reported. Some twenty-five types of ground turkey produced under various brand names are impacted, and all of the packages in question contain the code "Est. P-963." http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_060_2011_Release/index.asp
Deforestation
In 2003, Cargill completed a port for processing soyaSoybean
The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
in Santarém
Santarém, Pará
-External links:*...
in the Amazon region of Brazil, dramatically increasing soya production in the area, and according to Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, speeding up deforestation of local rain forest. In February 2006, the federal courts in Brazil gave Cargill six months to complete an environmental assessment (EA). Initially supported by job-seeking locals, public opinion turned against the port as jobs have not appeared. In July 2006, the federal prosecutor indicated they were close to shutting down the port. Greenpeace took its campaign to major food retailers and quickly won agreement from McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
along with UK-retailers Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
, Waitrose
Waitrose
Waitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
and Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
to stop buying meat raised on Amazonian soya. These retailers in turn put pressure on Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...
, Bunge
Bunge Limited
Bunge Limited is a Bermudan food conglomerate with its headquarters in White Plains, New York. As well as being a leading global soybean exporter it is also involved in food processing, grain trading, and fertilizer...
, André Maggi Group
André Maggi Group
The André Maggi Group is a large Brazilian company involved in the soybean industry. It is the largest private producer of soybeans in the world...
and Dreyfus
Louis Dreyfus Group
Louis Dreyfus Group is a diversified French private company that is involved in agriculture and energy commodities...
to prove their soya was not grown on recently deforested land in the Amazon. In July 2006, Cargill reportedly joined other soy businesses in Brazil in a two-year moratorium on the purchase of soybeans from newly deforested land.
See also
- Cargill familyCargill familyThe Cargill family is one of the richest families in the world, holders of Cargill, the largest privately-held corporation in the United States. This secretive family are the descendents of William W. Cargill, who started the company in Iowa after the Civil War....
- Alberger processAlberger processThe Alberger process is a method of producing salt.It involves mechanical evaporation, and uses an open evaporating pan and steam energy. It results in a unique, three-dimensional flake salt of extremely light bulk density. It is highly prized in the fast food industry, due to its low sodium and...
- Margaret Anne CargillMargaret Anne CargillMargaret Anne Cargill was an American philanthropist and heiress to part of the Cargill fortune. She gave away more than $200 million anonymously.-History:...