Environmental group names multi-billion dollar firm Cargill as the ‘Worst Company in the World’

Good morning- welcome to radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up- a new study looks at what might be the worst corporations in the world. It’s a corporation that once had strong ties to the Tampa Bay area. Later—the President doubles down against four members of Congress who happen to be people of color.

But first- two listener comments about yesterday’s program. It was the part of the program where we discussed the controversy between Trump and four members of Congress that drew these two comments.

First up today—the largest privately held corporation in the US is Cargill. It once had extensive holdings in the Tampa Bay area. A new report says it is likely the worst corporation in the world—responsible for contaminated meat, vast amounts of water pollution, child labor and massive deforestation around the world.

The people who have been sickened or died from eating contaminated Cargill meat, the child laborers who grow the cocoa Cargill sells for the world’s chocolate, the Midwesterners who drink water polluted by Cargill, the Indigenous People displaced by vast deforestation to make way for Cargill’s animal feed, and the ordinary consumers who’ve paid more to put food on the dinner table because of Cargill’s financial malfeasance — all have felt the impact of this agribusiness giant. Their lives are worse for having come into contact with Cargill.

Our guest is:

MATHEW JACOBSON | SENIOR DIRECTOR, FORESTS | MIGHTY EARTH

mat@mightyearth.org | 202.618.1042 • 202.277.8463

www.mightyearth.org

https://stories.mightyearth.org/cargill-worst-company-in-the-world/index.html

Environmental group names multi-billion dollar firm Cargill as the ‘Worst Company in the World because of its ‘unscrupulous business practices and environmental destruction’

• Mighty Earth has denounced the Minnesota-based production firm Cargill as the ‘Worst Company in the World’ over its apparent poor environmental practices 
• Cargill provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products globally, and raked in $114.7b in revenue in 2018, making it one of the largest firm’s on earth
• ‘In my 40-year long career in Congress, I took on a range of companies that engaged in abusive practices,’ Mighty Earth Chairman Henry Waxman reports
• ‘I have seen firsthand the harmful impact of businesses that do not bring their ethics with them to work. But Cargill stands out,’ Waxman said of the global giant
• This issues mentioned in the report are also compounded by Brazil’s incumbent President Bolsonaro’s rollback of vital environmental protections the report says 

By Rod Ardehali For Dailymail.com

A damning report released titled ‘Cargill: The Worst Company in the World’, details ten years of alleged poor environmental practice from the company

Environmental campaign organization Mighty Earth has denounced the Minnesota-based production firm Cargill as the ‘Worst Company in the World’ over its apparent unscrupulous business practices and destruction of the environment.

A damning report released by the non-profit on Thursday titled ‘Cargill: The Worst Company in the World’, details ten years of alleged poor environmental practice from the company, which provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products globally, and raked in $114.7 billion in revenue in 2018.

Among the damning accusations aimed at the firm is that indigenous people have suffered a horrific rise in illnesses related to pesticides used by Cargill to grow soy – often sprayed directly overhead without concern for the people below.

A Cargill plant dominates the landscape along Wolf Lake on the edge of Forsythe Park, Indiana

The Might Earth report goes on to state that: ‘Cargill is poised to further wreak havoc on fragile ecosystems in Brazil, taking advantage of President Bolsonaro’s rollback of vital environmental protections.’

Some more of the appalling findings within the report include:

• Incentivizing huge deforestation despite pledging to end the practice by 2020.

• Being fined $10m in 2017 for ‘deliberately misreporting its trade values – by up to 90 percent – in order to defraud both the government and its trading partners.

• Indigenous peoples who depend on forests had their land encroached upon by Cargill-linked soy plantations in Brazil and have been forced off their lands.

• Same indigenous people have experienced sharp rises in cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and illnesses linked to pesticides and herbicides used to grow soy.

• One of the top 10 polluters in the food industry for more than dozen pollutants, including formaldehyde, lead, asbestos, hydrogen cyanide, and mercury.

‘In my 40-year long career in Congress, I took on a range of companies that engaged in abusive practices,’ Mighty Earth Chairman Henry Waxman writes in the report.

‘I have seen firsthand the harmful impact of businesses that do not bring their ethics with them to work. But Cargill stands out.’

‘As one of the largest companies in the world, Cargill has a responsibility to address its outsized impact,’ Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz said.

‘Mighty Earth runs campaigns around the globe to advocate for sustainable business practices, and Cargill kept showing up when our investigations identified bad actors.

‘Whether we were working on palm oil in Southeast Asia, cocoa farming in West Africa, or soy cultivation in South America, Cargill was always there, ready to thwart progress and impede joint conservation efforts.

‘Given their ubiquity and obstinance, we decided it was time to take a closer look at their checkered past.’

‘In my 40-year long career in Congress, I took on a range of companies that engaged in abusive practices,’ Mighty Earth Chairman Henry Waxman (pictured) writes in the report

Among the damning accusations aimed at the firm is that indigenous people have suffered a horrific rise in illnesses related to pesticides used by Cargill to grow soy – often sprayed directly overhead without concern for the people below

This issues mentioned in the report are also compounded by Brazil’s incumbent President Bolsonaro’s rollback of vital environmental protections, it states.

Mighty Earth states in their report that they repeatedly tried to engage in discussions with the giant firm but were rebuffed, with the company refusing to confront the issues highlighted.

‘Cargill has refused, time and time again, to substantively address the problems Mighty Earth identified,’ the report states.

The report continues: ‘Cargill continues to prioritize the deforesters in its supply chains over the climate or their customers’ sustainability demands.’

In a statement provided to DailyMail.com, the company said: ‘Cargill has been working to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way for more than 150 years.

‘We have a strong track record of successfully addressing complex challenges and driving lasting, positive change for the entire industry.

‘We are firmly committed to using that expertise and leveraging constructive partnerships to end deforestation and protect human rights.

‘Time-bound action plans articulate how we will deliver this zero-deforestation commitment in our cocoa, palm and soy supply chains.

‘Working with global NGOs and local organizations, we are steadfast in achieving our shared, long-term goals to nourish both people and the planet.

‘We remain committed to conducting business in a responsible manner and to supporting the communities where we live and work.

‘From our strengthened human rights commitment to training 1.2 million farmers last year to supporting the communities where we live and work including almost $60 million in total charitable contributions in 2018 across 54 countries, we live our purpose every day.’

Cargill Named “Worst Company in the World”

New report documents US-based agribusiness giant’s “ineptitude and incoherence at a grand scale.”

July 11, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Environmental campaign organization Mighty Earth announced today that it had named Minnesota-based Cargill as the “Worst Company in the World” due to its unscrupulous business practices, environmental destruction, and repeated insistence on standing in the way of global progress on sustainability. Mighty Earth’s new report, “Cargill: The Worst Company in the World,” documents decades of bad acts by the company and highlights the need for urgent action.

“In my 40-year long career in Congress, I took on a range of companies that engaged in abusive practices,” former congressman and Mighty Earth Chairman Henry Waxman writes in the report. “I have seen firsthand the harmful impact of businesses that do not bring their ethics with them to work. But Cargill stands out.”

“As one of the largest companies in the world, Cargill has a responsibility to address its outsized impact,” Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz said. “Mighty Earth runs campaigns around the globe to advocate for sustainable business practices, and Cargill kept showing up when our investigations identified bad actors. Whether we were working on palm oil in Southeast Asia, cocoa farming in West Africa, or soy cultivation in South America, Cargill was always there, ready to thwart progress and impede joint conservation efforts. Given their ubiquity and obstinance, we decided it was time to take a closer look at their checkered past.”

For months, Mighty Earth has engaged in discussions with Cargill, including at the CEO level, to address the report’s findings and seek long-term solutions. Mighty Earth has served as a key convener for other sectors – including rubber, chocolate, and palm oil – as those companies sought to improve their environmental standards and impacts. However, Cargill has refused, time and time again, to substantively address the problems Mighty Earth identified. Instead, Cargill continues to prioritize the deforesters in its supply chains over the climate or their customers’ sustainability demands.

“In press releases and public statements, the agribusiness giant Cargill presents itself as frustrated with deforestation, as though it were some externality they have no control over, like bad weather,” Hurowitz said. “But deforestation isn’t something that’s happening to Cargill, it’s something that Cargill is doing.”

Mighty Earth’s new report identifies Ahold Delhaize – an international supermarket giant that owns Stop & Shop, Giant, Food Lion, Hannaford, and many other brands – as a key customer of Cargill that could take immediate action. Ahold Delhaize, despite its own corporate sustainability pledges, recently broke ground on a new meat packaging facility in Rhode Island as a joint venture with Cargill.

“It’s important for Ahold Delhaize and other Cargill customers to set new sourcing standards that eliminate deforestation from their supply chains. They have the power to force Cargill’s hand, but continued inaction makes them complicit in Cargill’s malfeasance,” said Mighty Earth Senior Director for Forests Mat Jacobson. “Cargill has only gotten away with its bad behavior for so long because it is not a consumer-facing brand. But if folks knew the food they get at McDonald’s, Stop & Shop, or Target was destroying the rainforests or had been produced with child slavery, they’d be shocked.”

The release of Mighty Earth’s groundbreaking report kicks-off a multimillion-dollar, multi-year campaign targeting Cargill and its customers that will urge the agribusiness giant to eliminate deforestation and human rights abuses from its supply chain. To launch the campaign, local Mighty Earth activists and allies including Minnesota Clean Water Action honored Cargill for its dubious distinction with a rally outside Cargill headquarters in Minnesota at which it awarded the company a “thumbs down” placard.

About the Report

Major findings:

• Cargill is poised to further wreak havoc on fragile ecosystems in Brazil, taking advantage of President Bolsonaro’s rollback of vital environmental protections. In 2014, Cargill pledged to end deforestation for all commodities in its supply chain by 2020. With just one year left, Cargill has continued to incentivize deforestation, remained one of the worst actors on the world stage, and now stands poised to embrace the dawning of a Bolsonaro-era free-for-all in Brazil’s forests.
• In November 2017, Cargill was fined $10 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for years of deliberately misreporting its trade values – by up to 90 percent – in order to defraud both the government and its trading partners. In October 2018, David Dines, the Cargill executive responsible for these violations, was promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
• Indigenous peoples who depend on forests have had their land encroached upon by Cargill-linked soy plantations in Brazil. They have been forced off of their traditional lands and have experienced sharp increases in cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and other illnesses linked to pesticides and herbicides used to grow soy – often sprayed by planes directly overhead.
• Cargill is one of the top ten polluters in the US food industry for more than a dozen pollutants, including formaldehyde, lead, asbestos, hydrogen cyanide, and mercury.

• Cargill is the United States’ largest privately held company, bigger even than the notorious Koch Industries. Its footprint extends around the world. But The Worst Company in the World? We recognize this is an audacious claim. There are, alas, many companies that could vie for this dubious honor. But this report provides extensive and compelling evidence to back it up.
• The people who have been sickened or died from eating contaminated Cargill meat, the child laborers who grow the cocoa Cargill sells for the world’s chocolate, the Midwesterners who drink water polluted by Cargill, the Indigenous People displaced by vast deforestation to make way for Cargill’s animal feed, and the ordinary consumers who’ve paid more to put food on the dinner table because of Cargill’s financial malfeasance — all have felt the impact of this agribusiness giant. Their lives are worse for having come into contact with Cargill.
• In my 40-year long career in Congress, I took on a range of companies that engaged in abusive practices. I have seen firsthand the harmful impact of businesses that do not bring their ethics with them to work. But Cargill stands out.
• In contrast to the oil and tobacco industries, for instance, the bad practices documented here are not inherent to the products Cargill sells, and are, in fact, entirely avoidable. For example, perhaps Cargill’s largest negative impact on the natural world is its role in driving the destruction of the world’s last remaining intact forests and prairies. There are more than one billion acres of previously degraded land where crops can be grown without further imperiling native ecosystems, at no additional cost. Similarly, other companies grow animal feed at large scale without the same levels of water or climate pollution.
• From palm oil in Southeast Asia to agriculture here in the United States, Cargill has sat out industry efforts to improve. To address these gaps, over the last five years, the Mighty Earth team has engaged in extensive, high-level discussions with Cargill. Our team praised the company in 2014 when CEO David MacLennan committed to end deforestation throughout the company by 2020, and later when it committed to stop sourcing cocoa from inside national parks.
• In January, we shared a draft of this report with Cargill. Days before its scheduled release, Mr. MacLennan called us to request a few weeks to consider our findings and, more importantly, our recommendations for change. We agreed to give Cargill the chance. Two weeks later, he committed that Cargill would adopt policies to prevent the destruction of native habitat, and that he would personally lobby other CEOs in the industry to do the same.
• Unfortunately, these last months have only confirmed the company’s inability to respond effectively, and Mr. MacLennan’s inability to deliver real change.