Date: 2024-09-27 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00017072
Environment
Food and Agriculture
From Environmental Leader to ‘Worst Company in the World’ ... about Cargill
YES YES YES ... and for me the starting point can be better metrics in the sense that social impact and environmental impact are numbered as rigorously as profits are numbered AND the numbering should be ubiquitous and from all perspectives and not merely the perspective of the owners of economic activity. We (that is: society as a whole) knows a whole lot more about corporate performance that is not reported within the current conventional financial reporting framework. We can do a lot better and quite easily given 21st century technology.
Peter Burgess
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/business/brazil-deforestation-cargill.html
From Environmental Leader to ‘Worst Company in the World’
ImageCargill buys large quantities of soy from local farmers in the Cerrado, a vast Brazilian savanna.
Cargill buys large quantities of soy from local farmers in the Cerrado, a vast Brazilian savanna.CreditCreditNelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By David Yaffe-Bellany
July 29, 2019
22
For years, the American agricultural giant Cargill has been on relatively good terms with environmental advocates, praised for agreeing to a landmark moratorium on buying soybeans grown on deforested land in the Amazon rain forest.
In recent weeks, though, that relationship has soured over the company’s refusal to agree to a similar moratorium in another environmentally sensitive region of Brazil and, more broadly, over its failure to meet its anti-deforestation targets. This month, the environmental advocacy group Mighty Earth released a report titled “Cargill: The Worst Company in the World.”
The fierce reaction shows how corporations that fall short of ambitious environmental commitments can be received. And it demonstrates the speed with which a company can go from environmental leader to scourge in the eyes of some advocates.
“What was disappointing was that Cargill got lauded and then didn’t follow through,” said Nathalie Walker, a director at the National Wildlife Federation. “I don’t think anyone is taking a personal view or an emotional view about a company. It’s judging them by their actions.”
PAYWALL LIMITED
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Cargill From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search This article is about the international food conglomerate. For the mineral, see Diamond. For other uses, see Cargill (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Kargil. Cargill, Incorporated Cargill logo.svg Type Private Industry Conglomerate Founded 1865; 154 years ago Founder William Wallace Cargill Headquarters Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S. Area served Worldwide Key people Dave MacLennan (Chairman and CEO) Products Agricultural services, crop and livestock, food, health and pharmaceutical, industrial & financial risk management, raw materials Revenue Increase US$114.695 billion (2018)[1] Operating income Increase US$3.204 billion (2018)[1] Net income Increase US$3.103 billion (2018)[1] Total assets Increase US$59.475 billion (2018)[1] Owner Cargill family (90%) Number of employees 150,001 (2018)[1] Website cargill.com Cargill, Incorporated is an American privately held[2][3] global corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware.[4] Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue.[5] If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2015, number 15 on the Fortune 500, behind McKesson and ahead of AT&T.[6] Some of Cargill's major businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grain and other agricultural commodities, such as palm oil; trading in energy, steel and transport; the raising of livestock and production of feed; and producing food ingredients such as starch and glucose syrup, vegetable oils and fats for application in processed foods and industrial use. Cargill also has 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 Black River Asset Management, a hedge fund 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 reports revenues of $114.695 billion and earnings of $3.103 billion in 2018.[7] Employing over 155,000 employees in 66 countries,[8] 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 than any other company, and is the largest poultry producer in Thailand. All the eggs used in US McDonald's restaurants pass through Cargill's plants. It is the only US producer of Alberger process salt, which is used in the fast-food and prepared food industries. Cargill remains a family-owned business, as the descendants of the founder (from the Cargill and MacMillan families) own over 90% of it.[9] 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.