business

Industry double-talk.

Cargill's goal is not to feed the world as this article could lead you to believe; Cargill's goal is to make money for their share holders at all costs.

Cargill is a private company, it does not have shareholders. abbey2002, why don't you inform yourself before you post factually incorrect comments

...perhaps you want to take a look at Cargill's website and their annual report where you'll find "Letter to Share Holders."

"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Cargill is privately held. its on the bottom left hand side of the homepage. Private companies have shareholders also. Cargill's shareholders are mostly members of the Cargill and Macmillan families, as well as some representatives from various other companies. A small percentage are senior management and retirees, through an employee stock ownership program. Stop arguing, and please take more than 2 min to research something before you post about it.

We have been building such a farm for 30 years. We call it a "European style farm." But we recognize the need for commodity farms, too. The perception that big tractors, big land, big capital is the only farming is wrong; and has been very hard to correct. And don't believe the self righteous farm preachers out there; lots of hard dirty work, and they never do it.

From what I've seen over the years, Cargill is less like other corporations who value profit over customers and quality. I've noted in their annual reports they keep their profit margin low compared to other companies and industry averages. Apparently the family owners feels several million dollars profit each is enough where other "shareholders" do not believe any amount is "enough". Can't recall the percentages, but it was lower then most corporate averages. While I don't know any Cargill shareholders and only a couple lower level employees, I have seen quite a bit of evidence they are usually interested in providing a good low cost food product worldwide. Did you know they have a stake in the Russian cattle industry and meat production? Most companies worry me with their profit having higher priority then customers and quality. But Cargill looks fairly decent over the years that I've been semi-monitoring them.

It's amazing that you brilliant local-yokels know so little about a major local company that sits right in your back door. It matters little whether your comments support this company or vilify it, you are ignorant about the inter-workings, the mission (except for what you read in a web site), the impact on the local or global communities, etc. The best any of you do is make your best guess at what you think is actuality, almost always way off base from reality. I suggest you quit commenting on this subject and stick to the Twins or the weather.