Cargill, Incorporated, is a
privately held
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
American global food
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
based in
Minnetonka
Minnetonka ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about west of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 53,781.
Minnetonka is the ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, and incorporated in
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a
public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...
, it would rank, as of 2015, number 15 on the
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
, behind
McKesson and ahead of
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...
. Cargill has frequently been the subject of criticism related to the environment, human rights, finance, and other ethical considerations.
Some of Cargill's major businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
and other
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
commodities
In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.
The price of a comm ...
, such as
palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
; trading in energy,
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
and transport; raising of
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
and production of
feed; and producing food ingredients such as
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...
and
glucose syrup
Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner's glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called " corn syrup", but glu ...
,
vegetable oils and fats for application in
processed food
Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily por ...
s and industrial use. Cargill also has a large
financial services
Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
arm, which manages financial risks in the
commodity market
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investin ...
s for the company. In 2003, it split off a portion of its financial operations into Black River Asset Management, a
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...
with about $10 billion of assets and liabilities. It owned two-thirds of the shares of
The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic Company is a Fortune 500 company based in Tampa, Florida which mines phosphate, potash, and collects urea for fertilizer, through various international distribution networks, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It is the largest U.S. producer of ...
(sold off in 2011), one of the world's leading producers and marketers of concentrated
phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
and
potash
Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. crop nutrients.
Cargill reports revenues of $114.695 billion and earnings of $3.103 billion in 2018. Employing over 166,000 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, importing more product from
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
than any other company, and is the largest
poultry
Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...
producer in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. All the eggs used in US
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
restaurants pass through Cargill's plants. It is the only US producer of
Alberger process
The Alberger process is an industrial method of producing salt from rock salt.
Method
The Alberger process begins by heating brine under high pressure with a series of heaters. Impurities are removed using a tank filled with granite cubes called ...
salt, which is used in the fast-food and prepared food industries.
Cargill remains a
family-owned business
A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willin ...
, as the descendants of the founder (from the
Cargill and MacMillan families) own over 90% of it.
[Caroline Daniel]
Château Cargill throws open its halls
''Financial Times'', February 26, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2009. Gregory R. Page succeeded former CEO Warren Staley in mid-2007, as Staley reached Cargill's mandatory retirement age of 65, and was CEO and chairman until 2013, when he in turn was succeeded by
Dave MacLennan.
History
19th century
Cargill was founded in 1865 by
William Wallace Cargill
William Wallace Cargill (December 15, 1844 – October 17, 1909) was an American businessman. In 1865, he founded Cargill, which by 2008 was the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue, employing over 150, ...
when he bought a grain flat house in
Conover Conover may refer to:
People
* Conover (surname)
Places in the United States
* Conover, Iowa, a ghost town
* Conover, North Carolina, a city
* Conover, Ohio, an unincorporated community
* Conover, Wisconsin, a town
* Conover (community), Wisconsi ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
. 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 is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's populat ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, and their brother James joined the business. La Crosse was strategically located on the Mississippi near the junctions of the La Crosse River, Dubuque, and Southern Minnesota divisions of the
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986.
The company experienced ...
.
Sam Cargill left La Crosse in 1887 to manage the office in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, an important emerging grain center. Three years later, the Minneapolis operation incorporated as Cargill Elevator Co.; some years after that the La Crosse operation incorporated as W. W. Cargill Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin. In 1898, John H. MacMillan Sr., and his brother, Daniel, began working for W. W. Cargill. MacMillan then married William Cargill's eldest daughter, Edna.
20th century
Upon Sam Cargill's death in 1903, William Cargill became the sole owner of the La Crosse office. John MacMillan was named 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. Cargill 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. He was also the architect of the company's strategy of internationalism.
He opened the company's first Canadian, European and Latin American offices in 1928, 1929 and 1930. He was also noted for his involvement in the controversial commercial rapprochement between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
During this time, Cargill saw both record profits and major cash crunches.
The first of the crises was the debt left by the death of William 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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
all debts were paid by 1915.
As World War I continued into 1917, Cargill made record earnings and faced criticisms of
war profiteer
A war profiteer is any person or organization that derives profit from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term typically carries strong negative connotations. General profiteering, making a profit criticized a ...
ing. Four years later, as a fallout from the financial crash of 1920, Cargill posted its first loss.
One of the biggest criticisms of the company 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 Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...
. It 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
Corner may refer to:
People
*Corner (surname)
* House of Cornaro, a noble Venetian family (''Corner'' in Venetian dialect)
Places
*Corner, Alabama, a community in the United States
*Corner Inlet, Victoria, Australia
*Corner River, a tributary of ...
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, instead trading through independent traders. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, MacMillan Jr., continued to expand the company, which boomed as it stored and transported grain and built
T1 tanker
The T1 tanker or T1 are a class of sea worthy small tanker ships used to transport fuel oil before and during World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. The T1 tanker classification is still in use today. T1 tankers are about in length and are ...
s and
Towboat
A pusher, pusher craft, pusher boat, pusher tug, or towboat, is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. In the United States, the industries that use these vessels refer to them as towboats. These vessels are characterized by a squar ...
s ships for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
.
In 1962, Cargill rejoined the Chicago Board of Trade, two years after MacMillan's death.
In 1960, Erwin Kelm became the first non-family chief executive. Aiming for expansion into
downstream production, he led the company into milling,
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...
es and
syrup
In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...
s. As the company grew, it developed a
market intelligence
Market intelligence (MI) is gathering and analyzing information relevant to a company's market - trends, competitor and customer (existing, lost and targeted) monitoring. It is a subtype of competitive intelligence (CI), which is data and info ...
network as it coordinated its commodities trading, processing,
freight
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...
, shipping and
futures
Futures may mean:
Finance
*Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract
*Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded
* ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine
Music
* ''Futures'' (album), a ...
businesses. In the decades before
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
, the company relied on its own
telex-based system for internal communication.
![Dust fills air as ships are loaded from the Cargill grain elevator - NARA - 551577](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Dust_fills_air_as_ships_are_loaded_from_the_Cargill_grain_elevator_-_NARA_-_551577.jpg)
When the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
entered the grain markets in the 1970s, demand grew to unprecedented levels, and Cargill benefitted. In 1963, Cargill had already negotiated a $40 million wheat deal with the USSR, establishing a relationship that later involved a series of larger deals.
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 with allegations of manipulating the market, and Cargill was a major target, but it emerged without any major changes.
In 1978 Cargill purchased the large
Leslie Salt
The Leslie Salt Company was a salt-producing company located in the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds, San Francisco Bay Area, at the current locations of Newark, California, Newark, Hayward, California, Hayward and other parts of the bay.
Background
...
refining company in
Newark, California
Newark is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in September 1955. Newark is an enclave, surrounded by the city of Fremont. The three cities of Newark, Fremont, and Union City make up the Tri-City ...
, from
Schilling Schilling may refer to:
* Schilling (unit), an historical unit of measurement
* Schilling (coin), the historical European coin
* Austrian schilling, the former currency of Austria
* A. Schilling & Company, an historical West Coast spice firm acquir ...
.
In 1979, Cargill entered the meat-processing business with the purchase of beef processor MBPXL (later Excel).
The division expanded into turkey, food service and food distribution businesses and is now known as
Cargill Meat Solutions.
In 1986 Cargill started operations in Venezuela through a partnership with the Possenti family's Mimesa C.A. to form Agroindustrial Mimesa in Maracaibo, dedicated to the manufacturing of flour and pasta. Expansion followed thereafter.
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 yielding mediocre
dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
s. Demands rose for an
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
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
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
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; 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
The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
.
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
In investment, the bond credit rating represents the credit worthiness of corporate or government bonds. It is not the same as an individual's credit score. The ratings are published by credit rating agencies and used by investment professiona ...
, Micek announced he would step down a year early.
21st century
Warren Staley became chief executive and continued expanding the company and it rebounded.
In 2002 Cargill acquired European-based starch manufacturer Cerestar from
Montedison
Edison S.p.A. is an Italian electric utility company headquartered in Milan. The company was established in 1884 and acquired by Electricité de France in 2012. Edison employs more than 5,000 people in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. C ...
for $1.1 billion.
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 in 59 countries.
Cargill Meat Solutions acquired Milwaukee Emmpak in 2003 and merged it with Taylor Packing Co. (purchased in 2001). In 2006, Cargill Meat purchased Fresno Meats. The three main brands of beef are Circle T Beef, Valley Tradition, and Meadowland Farms.
On June 1, 2007, CEO Staley was succeeded by
Gregory R. Page.
Cargill's quarterly profits exceeded $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 is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...
s industry that, in turn, caused a rise in demand for Cargill's core areas of agricultural commodities and technology.
[Matt McKinney]
At $471,611 an hour, Cargill posts fine quarter
''Star Tribune'', April 15, 2008.
In October 2011, the U.S. Justice Department announced that a biotech specialist at Cargill had pleaded guilty to stealing information from Cargill and
Dow AgroSciences
Dow AgroSciences LLC was 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 was based in Indianapolis, Indian ...
. Kexue Huang, a Chinese national, was discovered to be passing trade secrets back to China.
In November 2011, Cargill completed the acquisition of
Provimi
Provimi is a company specializing in animal nutrition and related products. In the 1930s it started selling a product under the name Provimi, a mixture of three basic elements in every animal feed and this is where the present name is derived fro ...
, a global animal nutrition company for €1.5 billion ($2.1 billion US).
On April 1, 2012, Cargill completed a purchase of a cat and dog food plant in
Emporia, Kansas
Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 ...
. It was previously owned by American Nutrition.
In December 2013 CEO and chairman Page was succeeded by current CEO Dave MacLennan.
In December 2014, Cargill finished commissioning a $100 million Indonesian cocoa plant.
In 2015, Cargill wound down its Black River Asset Management division by shutting down four hedge funds, folding two agriculture and energy funds into Cargill, and spinning off three fund businesses to employees to create the hedge fund Proterra Investment Partners, emerging markets debt specialist Argentem Creek Partners and private equity firm Garda Capital Partners.
In 2016, Cargill announced that it would move its Protein Group headquarters from older buildings in downtown
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, and consolidate into a new building in Wichita's nearby Old Town area. The new $60 million building will be built on the site of the building that formerly housed
The Wichita Eagle, following the old building's demolition.
In 2016, Cargill completed the commissioning of a feed plant in Bathinda, Punjab, India, and manufactures dairy cattle feed under the Purina brand name.
In February 2018, Cargill completed the purchase of Pro Pet, a pet food manufacturing company. Pro Pet had three manufacturing facilities, one in
Owatonna, Minnesota
Owatonna () is a city in Steele County, Minnesota, Steele County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 25,599 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Steele County. Owatonna is home to the Steele County Fair ...
, one in
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...
, and one in
St. Marys, Ohio.
In November 2018, Cargill sold its 13 crop input locations in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada to
La Coop Fédérée.
In 2018, Cargill made a $25 million investment in Puris, a supplier of pea protein used in
Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat, Inc. is a Los Angeles–based producer of plant-based meat substitutes founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. The company's initial products were launched in the United States in 2012. History Founding
Ethan Brown founded the company in ...
products. In 2019, Cargill invested an additional $75 million.
COVID-19 crisis
On April 8, 2020, Cargill closed its
Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second largest city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on Decembe ...
meatpacking facility because "an unspecified number of Cargill employees at the plant
adtested positive for COVID-19." The county had the "highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the area with 982", of which 849 were in Hazelton.
On April 20, 2020, Cargill temporarily closed its
High River, Alberta
High River is a town within the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately south of Calgary, at the junction of Alberta Highways 2 and 23. High River had a population of 14,324 in 2021.
History
The community take ...
, plant because "the operation was linked to nearly 500 cases of COVID-19". All 2,100 employees were recommended for virus testing.
This plant was responsible for about 36% of Canada's beef producing capacity.
On May 6, the plant was connected with 1,560 cases of COVID-19.
United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW) Union Local 401 has recommended the plant's closure since 38 cases were known.
The public health authority of Quebec did not shut down a Cargill plant in
Chambly south of
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
on May 10, 2020. A total of 64 employees, about 13% of the workforce, had COVID-19. The workers are represented by the UFCW. The public health department for the Montérégie region had been working with Cargill since April 25 to deal with the outbreak. Cargill closed the plant on its own.
On May 11, a
CBC journalist wrote, "The Cargill plant in Alberta, where there have been about 1,000 reported cases
f human COVID-19 is now considered the largest single-site outbreak in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
."
Meanwhile, the
Agriculture Union of
CFIA
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; french: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being o ...
's
embedded inspectors at slaughterhouses said that management is "threatening disciplinary action against employees who refuse to be reassigned to work at COVID-19-infected meat plants", while Deputy PM
Chrystia Freeland
Christina Alexandra Freeland (born August 2, 1968) is a Canadian politician serving as the tenth and current deputy prime minister of Canada since 2019 and the Minister of Finance (Canada), minister of finance since 2020. A member of the Libe ...
said, "those who feel unsafe won't be forced back to work."
[
Also on May 11, the Alberta government disclosed that a second worker from the Cargill plant there had died that day.]
On 3 June 2020, Cargill announced that it would no longer publish quarterly results, stopping the disclosures that the company had provided since 1996. Cargill canceled its third-quarter earnings release in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Board of directors
As of December 2016:
*Brandon Graham, Cargill family member
* Andrew C. Liebmann, Cargill family member
*John H. MacMillan IV
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
, Cargill family member
* David D. MacMillan, Cargill family member
* John C. MacMillan, Cargill family member
*Anne Pedrero-MacMillan, Cargill family member
*Richard A. Cargill, Cargill family member
* David W. MacLennan, chairman and CEO of Cargill
*Todd Hall
Todd or Todds may refer to:
Places
;Australia:
* Todd River, an ephemeral river
;United States:
* Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community
* Todd, Missouri, a ghost town
* Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporate ...
, executive vice president of Cargill
*Marcel H.M. Smits, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cargill
* Joseph J. Stone, corporate senior vice president and chief risk officer of Cargill
*Richard H. Anderson Richard Anderson (1926–2017) was an American actor.
Richard, Rich, Richie, or Dick Anderson may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Richard Dean Anderson (born 1950), American actor
* Richard L. Anderson (sound effects editor) (1977–2013) ...
, retired chairman of Delta Air Lines, Inc.
*Louis R. Chênevert
Louis R. Chênevert is a Canadian businessman. He served as the Chairman#Corporate governance, Chairman and CEO, Chief Executive Officer of United Technologies Corporation and was also President of Pratt & Whitney.
Early life and education
Chên ...
, retired chairman and chief executive officer of United Technologies Corporation
* Arthur D. Collins Jr., retired chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic, Inc
* Stephen J. Hemsley, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group
*Bernard Poussot
Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...
, retired chairman, chief executive officer and president of Wyeth
* Trudy Rautio, retired president and chief executive officer of Carlson
* John Watson, retired chairman, chief executive officer of Chevron
Countries of operation
, Cargill operates in 70 countries across six regions around the world.
Africa
Algeria, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Indo Pacific
China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Oceania
Australia, New Zealand
India
Starting operations in 1987, Cargill now has a foods business unit called Cargill Foods India which processes, refines and markets a wide range of both indigenous and imported edible oils, fats and blends to the food industry including Sweekar, Nature Fresh, Gemini, Rath and Shakti brands of edible oil. In 2012 it launched Chakki Fresh Atta in India under the brand name "Sampoorna". Its customers are in the retail, food service sector and beverage industry.
Apart from sugar and cotton, Cargill India is also one of India's largest originators and marketers of food and coarse grains. It has its own Trade and Structured Finance arm, which also operates the Cargill Capital and Financial Services India Private Limited. Its Cargill Energy, Transport and Metals BU is active across ocean freight, coal, iron ore and steel trading. It bought Sunflower Oil Brand From Wipro In December 2012.
After the government of India, Cargill is India's second-largest buyer of food grain. It has been buying grains and oilseeds in India since 1998. It also has the largest producer of potash, Mosaic.
Pakistan
Cargill started doing business in Pakistan in 1984. Cargill Pakistan Holdings was incorporated on January 25, 1990.[ In the 1980s, Cargill sold hybrid ]safflower
Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...
seeds extensively in Pakistan. Today, Cargill imports palm oil and palm oil products from Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
into Pakistan, selling them in the local market. It also buys raw cotton bales from producers in Pakistan and sells them to China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.[ Cargill also deals in animal feed, agriculture commodities, cotton, grain and oilseeds, metals, palm and sugar business in Pakistan.]
In January 2019, Cargill announced a $200 million investment to grow business in Pakistan.
Europe
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Latin America
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Middle East
Jordan and United Arab Emirates.
North America
Cargill sells salt in the US under the Diamond Crystal brand.
Meat processing plants
Sponsorships
Cargill sponsored NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2010 and 2015.
Cargill returned to NASCAR sponsoring Front Row Motorsports in 2022 as an associate sponsor of the team.
Criticism
As a private company, Cargill is not required to release the same amount of information as a publicly traded company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...
and, as a business practice, keeps a relatively low profile.
In 2019 the NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
Mighty Earth released a 56-page report on Cargill. Mighty Earth chair and former U.S. Congressman Henry A. Waxman
Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939) is an American politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...
called Cargill "the worst company in the world" and said it drives "the most important problems facing our world" (deforestation, pollution, climate change, exploitation) "at a scale that dwarfs their closest competitors."
In 2019, the Swiss NGO Public Eye
Public Eye or The Public Eye may refer to:
* ''Public Eye'' (TV series), a British television series that ran from 1965 to 1975
* ''The Public Eye'' (TV series), a Canadian television public affairs television series which aired on CBC Televisio ...
also criticized Cargill in various contexts in a report on agricultural commodity traders in Switzerland.
Child trafficking
In 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International L ...
filed suit against Cargill, Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
, and Archer Daniels Midland in federal court on behalf of children who said they were trafficked from Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
into Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
and forced to work on cocoa bean
The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances ...
plantations 12 to 14 hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent physical abuse.
Even more recent evidence stems from a 2019 TV program on French channel France 2
France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews.
Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...
about cocoa illegally harvested from protected areas in Côte d’Ivoire. The report found child labor to be widespread on the plantations investigated: every third worker was a child. Instances of child trafficking from neighboring Burkina Faso were also reported. Cargill, which buys from the plantations under investigation, at first denied that it was buying cocoa from protected areas, but was forced to admit that its traceability system had not reached these areas, and therefore that it could not fully trace the origins of its cocoa. Swiss-based food giant Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
is one of Cargill's biggest customers of cocoa sourced from Côte d'Ivoire, as later reported by Swiss TV channel RTS 1
RTS1 (Serbian Cyrillic: РТС1; First program of RTS ( sr, Први програм РТС-а/), First channel of RTS (/ ) or only First (/ )) is a Serbian public mainstream TV channel operated by RTS.
Previously on RTS1
Serbian TV series
*Ј ...
.
In 2021, eight former child slaves from Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
named Cargill in a class action lawsuit, alleging that it aided and abetted their enslavement on cocoa plantations in Côte d'Ivoire. The suit accused Cargill, along with Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
, Barry Callebaut
Barry Callebaut is a Belgian-Swiss cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer, with an average annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of cocoa & chocolate (fiscal year 2021/2022).
It was created in 1996 through the merging of the Belgian ...
, Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021.
Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest priva ...
, Olam International
Olam International is a major food and agri-business company, operating in 60 countries and supplying food and industrial raw materials to over 20,900 customers worldwide. Its value chain includes farming, origination, processing and distributi ...
, The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milksh ...
, and Mondelez International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...
, of knowingly engaging in forced labor, and sought damages for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Child labor in Uzbekistan
Cargill was a major buyer of cotton in Uzbekistan, despite the industry prevalence of uncompensated workers and possible human rights abuses, and admissions by two representatives that the company is aware of the possible use of child labor
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
in the production of its crops. Their concerns have been public since 2005, but no action has been taken on labor violations in Cargill's Uzbek operations. The company has not traded any Uzbek cotton in several years.
Union busting
In February 2018, several employees of Cargill's Dayton, Virginia plant held protests. Their grievances included poor health benefits, bad working conditions, and Cargill's allegedly firing employees who organized to create a union. The protests led to nine people's arrest for trespassing on company property.
Worker safety during COVID-19
During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, a single meat processing plant in High River, Canada, was linked to over 358 cases of infection. United Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...
Canada Union Local 401 president Thomas Hesse said, "It's a tragedy. We asked days and days ago for that plant to be closed temporarily for two weeks, send all of the workers home with pay to isolate. That was when we were aware of 38 cases. That was before they set up a dedicated testing facility in the area." Reports of employees being denied personal protective equipment also surfaced around the same period. As of May 3, 2020, 917 of the plant's 2,000 workers had tested positive, and the plant was linked to 1,501 total cases.
Land grabbing
The NGO Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
has documented an illustrative case of land grabbing
Land grabbing is the contentious issue of large-scale land acquisitions: the buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and transnational companies, governments, and individuals.
While used broadly throughout history, land grabbing as ...
. Between 2010 and 2012 Cargill brought huge areas of land in Colombia under its control despite legal restrictions on the acquisition of state land. To accomplish this, Cargill set up no fewer than 36 mailbox companies, which enabled it to exceed the legally prescribed maximum size of land ownership. With more than 50,000 hectares of land, Cargill thus acquired more than 30 times the land legally permitted for a single owner.
Food contamination
In 1971, Cargill sold 63,000 tons of seed treated with a methylmercury-based fungicide
Fungicides are biocidal chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill parasitic fungi or their spores. A fungistatic inhibits their growth. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality, ...
that eventually caused a minimum of 650 deaths when it was eaten. The fumigated seed grain was provided by Cargill at the specific request of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
and was never intended for direct human or animal consumption prior to planting.
Cargill's grain—which was dyed red and labeled with warnings in Spanish and English as well as a skull and crossbones design following a previous incident of mercury-treated seed being sold as food in Iraqi markets in 1960—was distributed too late for much of the 1971 planting season, causing many farmers to sell their excess product in the public markets at very low prices; this attracted many poor Iraqis who either could not understand the warnings or disregarded them, causing thousands of cases of mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning is a type of metal poisoning due to exposure to mercury. Symptoms depend upon the type, dose, method, and duration of exposure. They may include muscle weakness, poor coordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rashe ...
. The long latency period before developing symptoms and cattle's greater tolerance of mercury poisoning also contributed to the mistaken impression the surplus seed grain was safe to eat.
In October 2007, Cargill announced the recall of nearly 850,000 frozen beef patties produced at its packing plant in Butler, Wisconsin that were suspected of being contaminated with '' E. coli''. The beef was sold mainly at Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
and Sam's Club
Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's Cl ...
stores.
In March 2009, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service was the Australian government agency responsible for enforcing Australian quarantine laws, as part of the Department of Agriculture.
Following a period operating under the name DAFF Biosecurit ...
(AQIS) temporarily suspended Cargill Australia's license to export meat to Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and the US after ''E. coli'' was detected in Cargill's export containers from its Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...
plant. In late April 2009, AQIS lifted Cargill Australia's suspension on its export license.
In August 2011, the USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
and Cargill jointly announced the recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey produced at Cargill's Springdale, Arkansas
Springdale is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, fourth-largest city in Arkansas, United States. It is located in both Washington County, Arkansas, Washington and Benton County, Arkansas, Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas. Located on th ...
, plant due to salmonella
''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...
fears. The meat recalled was produced from February 20 to August 2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
announced that the particular strain of salmonella found was resistant to commonly prescribed antibiotics. One death and 76 illnesses from 26 states were reported. Some 25 types of ground turkey produced under various brand names were affected, and all of the packages in question contained the code "Est. P-963."
In September 2011, Cargill announced a second, immediate and voluntary Class One recall of 185,000 pounds of 85% lean, fresh-ground turkey products because of possible contamination from Salmonella Heidelberg. The turkey was produced at the company's Springdale, Arkansas, facility on August 23, 24, 30 and 31.
In July 2012, the Vermont Department of Public Health said that 10 people in the state had become sick from ground beef being recalled by Cargill Beef. The 10 became sick between June 6 and 26. Three were hospitalized, and all recovered, according to health officials. Hannaford Supermarkets
Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York. The chain is now part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands, an ...
alerted consumers that Cargill Beef was voluntarily recalling 29,339 pounds of ground beef that might contain salmonella
''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...
. The 85%- lean ground beef was produced at Cargill's plant in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania
Wyalusing is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 596 as of the 2010 census.
History
The history of Wyalusing dates back centuries. It was originally known as ''M'chwihilusing ...
, on May 25, 2012, and repackaged for sale to consumers by customers of the Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
-based company.
Deforestation
Soy
In 2003, Cargill completed a port for processing soya in Santarém in the Amazon region
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...
of Brazil, dramatically increasing soya production in the area and, according to Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
, 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 Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
along with UK-retailers Asda
Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...
, Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
, and Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
to stop buying meat raised on Amazonian soya. These retailers have, in turn, put pressure on Cargill, 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.
In 2019 the six largest agricultural commodity traders, ADM, Bunge, Cargill, LDC, COFCO Int. and Glencore Agri, committed themselves to monitoring their soy supply chains in Brazil’s Cerrado.
Palm oil
Cargill sells large volumes of palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
, which is found in many processed foods, cosmetics and detergents. Most palm oil is obtained from plantations in Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
and Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
, which have been heavily deforested to make way for them.
Cocoa
On September 13, 2017 NGO Mighty Earth released a report documenting findings that Cargill purchases cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
grown illegally in national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
s and other protected forests in the Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
.
The report accused Cargill of endangering the forest habitats of chimpanzees, elephants and other wildlife populations by purchasing cocoa linked to deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
. As a result of cocoa production, 7 of the 23 Ivorian protected areas have been almost entirely converted to cocoa. Cargill was notified of the findings of Mighty Earth’s investigation and did not deny that the company sourced its cocoa from protected areas in the Ivory Coast.
Data released in April 2019 by Global Forest Watch, an online platform providing data and tools for monitoring forests, showed that rates of tropical primary forest loss increased dramatically in 2018 in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, primarily due to cocoa farming and gold mining. In 2018 Ghana had the highest rate of increase (60%) in the world compared to 2017, with Côte d’Ivoire (26%) in second place.
Air pollution
In 2005, the company settled with the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency over Clean Air Act violations, including a plan to invest over $60 million in capital improvements for clean air controls, after a joint federal and state effort that included Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota and Ohio.
In 2006, NatureWorks, a subsidiary in Nebraska, settled with the state over inadequate air pollution controls.
In 2015, Cargill settled with the EPA over Clean Air Act violations in a plant in Iowa.
Tax evasion
In 2011 a case of transfer mispricing
Transfer mispricing, also known as transfer pricing manipulation or fraudulent transfer pricing, refers to trade between related parties at prices meant to manipulate markets or to deceive tax authorities. The legality of the process varies be ...
came to light in Argentina involving the world's four largest grain traders: ADM, Bunge, Cargill and LDC. Argentina's revenue and customs service began an investigation into the four companies when prices for agricultural commodities spiked in 2008 but very little profit for the four companies had been reported to the office. As a result of the investigation, it was alleged that the companies had submitted false declarations of sales and routed profits through tax haven
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
s or their headquarters. In some cases they were said to have used dummy corporation
A dummy corporation, dummy company, or false company is an entity created to serve as a front or cover for one or more companies. It can have the appearance of being real (logo, website, and sometimes employing actual staff), but lacks the capacity ...
s to buy grain and inflated costs in Argentina to reduce the recorded profits there. According to Argentina's revenue and customs service, the outstanding taxes amounted to almost USD 1 billion. The companies involved have denied the allegations. As of 2019, the Argentinian tax authorities have not replied to Swiss NGO Public Eye
Public Eye or The Public Eye may refer to:
* ''Public Eye'' (TV series), a British television series that ran from 1965 to 1975
* ''The Public Eye'' (TV series), a Canadian television public affairs television series which aired on CBC Televisio ...
’s request as to the state of the case.
In its 2018 annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bunge mentioned provisions that suggested the case was still ongoing: " of December 31, 2018, Bunge’s Argentine subsidiary had received income tax assessments relating to 2006 through 2009 of approximately 1,276 million Argentine pesos (approximately $34 million), plus applicable interest on the outstanding amount of approximately 4,246 million Argentine pesos (approximately $113 million])."
See also
* Cargill family
*Criticisms of Cargill
This article addresses various criticisms of Cargill Inc, a privately held "''agribusiness''" multinational giant" with operations in 70 countries, and its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States. Cargill Inc, which has be ...
* Cargill Russia
*Margaret Anne Cargill
Margaret Anne Cargill (September 24, 1920 – August 1, 2006) was an American philanthropist and heiress to part of the Cargill fortune.
Biography Early life
Margaret Anne Cargill was born September 24, 1920, in Los Angeles, the daughter of A ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
*
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