Green | June 17, 2008 | 13 comments

Cargill: A corporate threat to food and farming

source: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/pubs/reports/cargill

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JanforGore
International giant Cargill is one of a relatively small number of powerful corporations that control the global agricultural system. Cargill, among those with the widest and deepest influence, describes itself as an “international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 158,000 employees in 66 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed.” Still in family hands, Cargill is the largest privately owned company in the world. Its grain division is the number one source of grains and oil-seeds in North America for domestic use, as well as exporting, and it is a major player in the beef and poultry industries.

With so many business sectors, operating divisions, and locations across the globe, keeping tabs on the specifics of Cargill is difficult. But in general, the Minneapolis-based company markets, processes, packs, distributes, transports, and trades agricultural, food, industrial, and other products and services. It is a leading grain processor and a top U.S. meat packer, but more importantly, it greatly influences – and some analysts would say it controls – both markets. Cargill deals with wheat, corn, and oilseeds; meats, poultry, and fish; industrial products such as biofuels, oils, lubricants, and salts; health and pharmaceutical products; and agricultural services such as animal feed and fertilizers.

In short, Cargill sells farmers many of the inputs they need, and buys much of their output for trading and processing. The corporate behemoth has created a worldwide agricultural system in which it is both buyer and seller, and as a result has reaped massive profits. It reported profits of $2.34 billion for the 2007 fiscal year. Unfortunately, Cargill has not been as successful in protecting the rights of consumers, workers, or the environment as it has been in adapting profitable business strategies.

Cargill threatens the environment in both the United States and abroad. It has spilled toxic waste into the San Francisco Bay, violated the Clean Air Act with harmful emissions, and deforested key habitats for endangered species in South America.
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Monsanto has company.
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13 comments // Cargill: A corporate threat to food and farming

  • jjmaster
    • 0
      jjmaster  

    • Yes, we can't trust our food, water, air chain at all...GM foods are in so many products... A lot more than we have purported -- more than just soy, corn, canola... Read what safeway says about their GM food stance.... We just do not have the labeling... it's in sauses and chips and pepper, etc., the list goes on and on...

    • 3 years ago
  • thebefuddler
    • 0
      thebefuddler  

    • Start growing your own vegetable garden. Buy organic seeds, preferably heirlooms. And buy produce at your local farmer's markets. localharvest.org or com is a good site for finding your nearest farmer's market. Also, try Community Supported Agriculture and community gardening. And even if you only have a small piece of land, or a balcony, you can grow in containers and use vertical space. I have an herb garden in my kitchen window too. It is healthier, fresher, tastier and it is actually fun.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • iameam: You're welcome and I agree, people need to know who has control over their food and water and how it gets to them. Seems some just like voting anything down with certain names on it.That has become very apparent over the last few weeks. Glad I'm not the only one noticing it.

    • 3 years ago
  • iameam
    • 0
      iameam  

    • It's surprising to me that this would be voted down. More people need to at least be aware of corporate agriculture.

      Permaculture is not only the way of the future, it's the way to protest against companies like Mansanto and Cargill.

      JanforGore... thanks for posting this.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • Here is another one from RAN regarding abuses.

      Hostile Harvest: U.S. Agribusinesses and Labor Rights Abuses:

      Massive U.S. agribusiness companies ADM, Bunge and Cargill depend on cheap labor for their soy and palm oil operations around the world. These companies, as well as their subsidiaries and their suppliers, engage in or are connected to slave labor, debt peonage systems, the exploitation of women, and the use of unsafe agrotoxins.

      Debt Peonage

      According to Anti-Slavery International, “A person enters debt bondage [or debt peonage] when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment of a loan, or of money given in advance.” Debt peonage ties the worker to the owner or company for as long as it takes him to repay the loan. In different forms, this practice of forced labor can be linked to ADM, Bunge and Cargill.

      In Indonesia, small palm oil farmers are forced to depend on massive agribusiness companies, repaying loans they receive to pay for seedlings and fertilizer with labor and palm fruit.
      In Papua New Guinea, communities are pressured into joint-venture “mini-estate” partnerships with Cargill in which Cargill charges the communities for all fertilizers, labor and transport and then demands 90 percent of the profit. Communities must continue to plant oil palm until their debts are repaid.

      end of excerpt.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • onechance: if you can do that it surely would be better for your health. I don't have the means now to have a garden, but I do buy local for much of my food. And imagine, I thought we lived in a country that believed in capitalism? Monopolies were not part of that were they? Another multinational into GM foods as well. I wonder how much of what we eat really is genetically modified that we are not being told about. Would kind of explain the rise in diabetes and other diseases to keep the healthcare business profitable. Sometimes I wonder if they aren't all in this together right down the line. And I think people would be surprised to know how many of the companies they buy products from have been involved in such cases... profit means everything to these companies, even above human dignity.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • 515dsm
  • cadsuch
    • 0
      cadsuch  

    • And they got SO arrogant that they thought the Cedar River would not breach that levy in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

      Isn't a river levy part of our infrastructure?

    • 3 years ago
  • onechance
    • 0
      onechance  

    • Wow, that site has a scary pile of corporate cases on it...
      Man, I'm only growing my own food from now on.

      I'm over supporting all these corporate pricks.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • And according to this case Cargill was named in, they were (are?) also involved in child slavery. This is the company that buys and sells the food we eat.

    • 3 years ago
  • onechance
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • More on Cargill.... No surprise the chairman is a "Bush ranger" and the company has donated to both parties, primarily Republicans.

    • 3 years ago
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