Some of us come late to knowledge.... but better late than never. Until a few nights ago, I didn't know who or what Cargill was; I'd never heard of them. A user comment on an article mentioned Cargill and Monsanto as being in control of the world's food. That got my attention. So, I looked them up. There is no current information on Cargill that I can find, but I found an expose from 2006.
You can listen to both parts of that here.
http://www.kootenaycoopradio.com/deconstructingdinner/020807.htm
At the top right, there is a header saying "Agri Business Exposed." Click on that and it will take you to part one. It's all archived now, as the site is no longer active. Thank the Universe for archives! These are two parts of a Radio broadcast from 2006. Brewster Kneen, who wrote the book "Invisible Giant: Cargill and its Transnational Strategies" was one of the speakers.John Sauven, Greenpeace's campaign director in London, was the other guest speaker. Greenpeace was instrumental in getting Cargill to back down from its deforestation in the Amazon. Go, Greenpeace!
I imagine all the figures quoted are higher now. Cargill is Canada's hidden Monsanto, but they do plenty of damage here in the U.S. and worldwide, just as Monsanto spreads like a cancer on the Earth.
Cargill's three principal strategic modes of operation are:
Keep a low public profile
Market Dominance
The world is their oyster
Cargill is U.S. based, (Minneapolis) but has 149,000 employees worldwide. Cargill doesn't own large tracts of agriculture land anywhere, but still puts its products into all refined foods, controls much of the meat and slaughter industry, exports and trades in coal, Electricity, and natural gas. Cargill is the largest exporter of natural gas in Canada.
In a nutshell, Cargill produces the "staple" ingredients of the Western diet.
Cargill produces high fructose corn syrup, nitrogen fertilizer, processed egg products, sucrose, animal feed, nitrogen fertilizer, chocolate and cocoa products. Cargill controls over 50% of Canada's beef, is one of the largest suppliers worldwide of sweeteners, is one of the major distributors of salt in the world. Who knows WHAT they put in their 'sea salt?'
Cargill is responsible for clearcutting deep within the Amazon rain forest, right along the River, to burn forests making way for cattle and then when the land is exhausted, GMO soybeans. They are making the Amazon into a toxic desert.
Cargill produces "assiduants" - citric acid, sodium citrate, potassium citrate, and food additives. Just look on any packaged foods you find and in it will be something Cargill manufactured.
Cargill is China's top food advisor.
Cargill consumes an enormous amount of fossil fuels worldwide, since their strategy is obtaining and moving products to their customers worldwide. if you google them, there are websites for:
cargill salt
cargill steel
cargill meat solutions
cargill animal nutrition
cargill malt
cargill AgHorizons
cargill texturizing solutions (!)
cargill cotton
cargill food service
etc.
Speaking of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS): Cargill's production of that uses up 15% of all of the energy it takes to make all of the processed/packaged foods in the U.S.
In order to make HFCS, you take corn (probably Monsanto's GMO corn) and then you use a lot of high powered centrifuges and stuff to extract sucrose, which you then pummel into fructose. This is NOT natural fructose that you find in an apple, although Cargill insists it is the same. Worse, HFCS is in every soft drink, especially diet soft drinks. More and more studies show that HFCS is responsible for obesity and type 2 diabetes, which has seen an enormous increase since widespread use of HFCS, and so has cancer.
80% of Cargill's hired slaves are illegal immigrants from China, Ethiopia, Africa, and the Middle East. They have been taken to court for child slavery in their chocolate factories.
I sure hope I can dig up who from Cargill has been on high positions in this or any other administration.It seems harder to find relevant information on Cargill. But I just re-googled them and found a new story: Cargill just bought 69% stake in the world's #2 sorbitol producer from an Indonesian chemical firm.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSJKB00417220101215
and here's some interesting tidbit i found on source watch -
Warren R. Staley, Chairman of Cargill, is a Bush Ranger having raised at least $200,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election. [15]
Cargill gave $161,252 to federal candidates in the 2008 election through its political action committee, 33% to Democrats, 67% to Republicans. [16]
Okay. The next post has to be about something hopeful, good, fun, funny, or beautiful that is happening. I need some sleep and some balance. But after I listened to this expose, I who love food and eating, (and who eats too much processed food) wished I never had to eat again.
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