Description
Cargill's financial results in fiscal 2015 did not meet expectations. The company earned $1.58 billion, down 13 percent from last year. Sales and other revenues decreased 11 percent to $120.4 billion. Cash flow from operations equaled $3.82 billion.
Cargill@150
2015 Annual Report
Listening. Learning. Leading.
In 2015, we mark our 150th year in business. We have grown from a
single grain elevator in Iowa to a company with 153,000 employees in
67 countries engaged in the essential work of nourishing people.
We operate across many supply chains, balancing the diverse interests
of customers and stakeholders. In the years ahead, meeting the
challenges of the world’s interdependent food and agriculture system
will call for broad collaboration. We embrace this opportunity with a
willingness to listen and learn that is essential to our company’s growth
and our commitment to helping the world thrive.
To read more about Cargill’s ?rst 150 years, visit www.cargill.com/150
Cargill is celebrating its 150th anniversary,
a tribute to the commitment, optimism and
resilience of its family owners and employees.
Over the years, the company has experienced
remarkable successes, occasional setbacks
and exceptional growth. And through it all, an
enduring commitment to nourishing people.
Cargill’s rich history has been a catalyst for
thinking about the future. We have always
been a learning organization, and that is more
important than ever, given the accelerating level
of complexity and change in the world. With
learning comes listening, and there we bring an
“outside-in” view of the world to our planning
and decision-making. We also know our cus-
tomers and other partners expect us to lead – in
supply chain management, food safety, nutrition,
risk management and sustainability.
Our customers and stakeholders are asking
more from us, just as we are demanding more
from ourselves.
Financial performance
Cargill’s fnancial results in fscal 2015 did not meet
expectations. The company earned $1.58 billion,
down 13 percent from last year. Sales and other rev-
enues decreased 11 percent to $120.4 billion. Cash
fow from operations equaled $3.82 billion.
Even in a challenging year, several of our businesses
generated record earnings: global animal nutrition,
Canadian farm services, Central American meats,
U.S. turkey, egg further processing, food and deicing
salts, industrial specialties, and trade and structured
fnance. We also saw solid gains in European poultry
and U.S. pork, and a turnaround in petroleum. Our
new joint ventures, Alvean (global sugar trading) and
Ardent Mills (North American four milling), got off to
a strong start.
Segment results
Animal Nutrition & Protein posted a solid increase
in proftability. The segment executed well, drawing
on its global footprint, diverse products and services,
and this year’s lower feed input costs to generate
earnings growth.
Origination & Processing results rose slightly as
back-to-back years of record harvests allowed the
rebuilding of global stocks, which muted price vola-
tility and market opportunities. The segment man-
aged an unusual market duality: In South America,
farmers held their crops to wait out low prices and
guard against potential currency devaluation. That
reduced soybean crush volumes and exports, and
caused global buyers to turn northward, which
boosted results in North America.
Earnings in Food Ingredients & Applications de-
creased considerably from last year. The economic
slowdown in China and other emerging markets,
where many of the segment’s recent capital invest-
ments have been directed, weakened results. In
developed countries, consumers’ rapidly evolv-
ing preferences for the foods and beverages they
consume impacted sales. We are making compre-
hensive changes to improve proftability and reshape
the portfolio for higher performance. This involves
reducing costs, aligning investments and assets
with projected returns, and positioning to be the
innovation partner that customers choose to help
them renew their product lines as they, too, respond
to slower sales growth and a range of consum-
er preferences.
Earnings in energy rebounded, especially in petro-
leum. The upturn was aided by last fscal year’s re-
structuring and the deft management of 2014’s swift
and sharp drop in crude oil prices. Disappointing
performance elsewhere in the segment held
Industrial & Financial Services earnings below the
year-ago level.
To our stakeholders
Greg Page
Executive Chairman
David MacLennan
President and CEO
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 1
External events also were part of the dynamic:
• Foreign exchange markets were volatile, pro-
pelled by the appreciation of the U.S. dollar
against other currencies. Many of our European-
and Latin American-based businesses were
negatively impacted but, based on past experi-
ence, those effects should even out over time.
• We again incurred charges against earnings
due to Venezuela’s revisions of its currency
exchange system.
• The Russia-Ukraine confict was costly – from the
forced closure of our oilseed processing plant in
Donetsk to the lost opportunities of a region in
economic contraction.
Lastly, we recorded a number of one-time items
related to asset impairments and other adjustments
and charges.
Focus and discipline
Cargill has a history of rising to challenges. Across
the company, we are focusing on fve areas we
believe are the most important for strengthening
proftability and restoring growth:
Operate with excellence: Work is underway in our
businesses to increase plant productivity, optimize
supply chains and raise marketing effectiveness.
Take a common approach, where sensible:
Six Cargill-staffed shared services centers are up
and running in Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China,
Costa Rica and India. By centralizing common
work processes for human resources, information
technology, fnance, logistics and sourcing, we drive
effciency. And that lets our business units concen-
trate on customers and markets.
We continue to modernize Cargill’s enterprise
resource planning systems. Although we had a
signifcant setback in one instance, we are making
the necessary adjustments and moving forward to
capture the benefts of integrated business informa-
tion and analytics.
Invest to serve customers: This past year, we
invested $3.43 billion in capabilities and capacities
important to our customers. Some of the highlights:
Capital expenditures:
25% acquisitions/joint ventures
49% new/expanded facilities
26% safety/energy/environment/other
• With rising demand for sustainable palm oil, we
acquired Indonesian producer Poliplant Group.
• Interest in canola oil continues to grow. We
opened a new oil refnery in Saskatchewan,
followed at year-end by a new crush facility in
Alberta. It sits on the 53rd parallel, the northern-
most plant in Cargill’s North American network.
• We invested globally in animal nutrition to support
the higher demand for animal protein that comes
with income growth in developing countries.
Cargill@150
$57.9M
contributed to
communities in
57 countries
in ?scal 2015
in support of food
security, education and
the environment
We aspire to be the global
leader in nourishing people.
67
countries
65+
languages
153k
employees
This is fundamental to all that we do.
2 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
• The new cocoa processing plant in Indonesia
and expanded chocolate facility in Belgium
both began operations. We also completed the
purchase of Archer Daniels Midland’s European
and U.S. chocolate business in the fscal 2016
frst quarter.
• We are gradually growing our presence in sub-
Saharan Africa, purchasing a grain-handling
business in Kenya and soybean processing busi-
ness in Zambia.
• Cargill’s new sunfower seed crush plant in Russia
is nearing completion.
We also made changes to the portfolio. In the U.S.,
we closed a corn wet mill, sold a cattle feed yard,
shuttered a beef facility and consolidated three meat
packaging plants into two. We sold Cargill’s interests
in two joint ventures: Chinese specialty ingredients
and Spanish olive oil. We exited cotton in Zimbabwe
due to deteriorating business conditions there.
Be the trusted partner: In every corner of the world,
Cargill is fulflling our sesquicentennial’s signature:
150 years of helping the world thrive.
• In China, we accelerated the startup of our
chicken further processing plant after a competi-
tor’s food safety scandal imperiled our customer’s
local supply chain.
• In compressed time frames, we achieved our
goals for 100 percent group housing of sows
at Cargill-owned facilities and for the removal
of growth-promoting antibiotics from all Cargill
turkey focks.
• We developed custom solutions for farm, food
and energy customers seeking to manage their
businesses’ commodity price risk.
• Working with their trade fows, we arranged
fnancing for customers as varied as an egg sup-
plier and an energy company.
• We created a GMO-free corn syrup – the frst ever
in the U.S. – to support ingredient changes in a
confectionery customer’s iconic brands.
• Applying years of experience, we helped food
customers replace partially hydrogenated oils (the
primary source of trans fat) in foods where fats are
key to taste and texture.
We were honored to be the frst recipient of
Unilever’s Visionary Award for our collaboration
in providing a series of innovation, supply chain
and sustainability solutions. In partnership with
Greenpeace and McDonald’s, we were pleased
to accept the Keystone Policy Center’s leader-
ship award for reducing deforestation in Brazil’s
Amazon region.
This year also marks Cargill’s adoption of a compa-
nywide sustainability strategy. We set an ambitious
goal to be the most trusted source of sustainable
products and services in our industry. We have
identifed four areas where we can have the great-
est impact across the supply chains we touch: land
use (including deforestation), water use, climate
change and farmer livelihoods. As we set targets and
undertake actions in each of these areas, we expect
to achieve positive impacts that reach far beyond the
company’s operations.
Tap employees’ full potential: We were delighted to
have Cargill named to Aon Hewitt’s Top Companies
for Leaders
®
list for 2014. Because of the rapidly
changing environment, we recognize the importance
of developing agile, decisive and engaging leaders
who build strong teams and create inclusive environ-
ments where all employees can succeed.
Further strengthening our safety culture allowed
Cargill to cross a new threshold in fscal 2015. We at-
tained the company’s lowest rate of reportable injury
(1.47 per 200,000 hours worked). Almost 74 percent
of 1,425 locations worked injury-free. Our safety in-
dex fell below 1.0 (to 0.81) for the frst time ever. And
together we worked 257 million hours from Sept. 1
to May 7 without a fatality. Yet we suffered four fatali-
ties over the course of the fscal year, tragically far
from our goal of zero. We are determined to reach
this mark and are confdent it can be done.
In closing
We want to express our pride in the Cargill team. In
a year of highs and lows, our employees kept each
other safe, followed the company’s guiding prin-
ciples and advanced our commitment to helping
customers and stakeholders thrive.
We are a company that listens, learns and leads.
We are honored to steward the legacy of preceding
generations and proud to carry it forward. As we
celebrate our 150th year in business, we fnd
Cargill’s purpose – to be the global leader in
nourishing people – to be more essential than ever.
It is our challenge and, indeed, our privilege, to help
feed the world sustainably.
Sincerely,
David W. MacLennan
President and Chief Executive Offcer
Gregory R. Page
Executive Chairman
Aug. 19, 2015
1934
A dust explosion
and fre at Cargill’s
grain terminal in
Omaha, Nebraska,
killed three men
and injured others.
The investigation
found the facility’s
unconventional
design, conceived
by then Cargill
Vice President
John MacMillan
Jr., had prevented
a greater loss of
life. Cargill began
a safety campaign,
with education on
grain handling and
a challenge to run
without accidents.
The continuous
improvement of
workplace safety
has been a cultural
cornerstone
ever since.
Gregory R Page
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 3
Tackling complexity
Broad challenges take collective wisdom to solve. In addressing the
complexity of helping feed the world responsibly, we are seeking
new perspectives and collaborative approaches that deliver wide-
ranging benefts.
Securing predictable pricing
Commodity prices are impacted by a host of uncer-
tainties, be it weather, supply and demand, or
disruptive events, to name just a few. These factors
cause prices to fuctuate, which creates risk –
especially for a government agency responsible for
purchasing, marketing and exporting its country’s
most important crop. That’s the job of Ghana’s
Cocoa Marketing Company. Ghana is the second-
largest producer of cocoa, accounting for about 20
percent of global output.
Prices were volatile in 2014, as concerns about the
possible spread of the Ebola virus added a new
worry to the market. Sensing the CMC’s need for
greater predictability, Cargill created a custom-
ized risk management solution that allowed the
CMC to lock in an attractive price on a specifed
tonnage of cocoa beans and still retain the ability
to beneft from upside potential. And we delivered
quickly, providing a degree of certainty when it was
needed most.
Producing sustainable palm oil
Keeping up with the world’s appetite for palm oil
means producers must expand capacity while
reducing environmental impact and protecting the
rights of indigenous communities. To help meet
demand, Cargill acquired Poliplant Group, a palm
plantation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. We
also reached out to environmental consulting frm
Daemeter to help bring the plantation in line with
our sustainability standards.
Daemeter is carrying out feld assessments of the
property’s 50,000 hectares to identify any high con-
servation value lands that support biodiversity and
high carbon stock forested areas. Both types of land
will remain off-limits for development. Their work is
helping us achieve compliance with our own palm oil
policy, as well as certifcation by the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil.
Building a strong connection with the community
also is a priority. At our other plantations, Cargill has
helped smallholder farmers achieve RSPO certifca-
tion. As a frst step in strengthening ties with our new
neighbors, Daemeter conducted a social impact
assessment, providing valuable insights for further
developing our capacity to operate responsibly.
Making food safer
Key to ensuring safe food is achieving consis-
tency in food safety standards and processes.
International exchanges can play a valuable role.
Beginning in 2008, Cargill worked with China’s
General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and others to
bring 100 Chinese government offcials to food pro-
duction sites across Europe and the U.S. to share
best practices. For those participants engaged
in updating China’s food safety regulations, the
program provided insights that helped modernize
the requirements for foods made for domestic con-
sumption, as well as for import and export.
In 2014, we invited a Chinese delegation to visit
Cargill’s poultry facility in Anhui province to share our
standards and systems for poultry production. The
exchange led to a new fve-year program, launched
in April 2015, that focuses at a granular level on the
implementation of China’s food safety policies. It
brings together practitioners from industry, academia
and government to gain alignment. We believe this
level of public-private collaboration – uncommon in
China – will continue making food safer.
1948
When Cargill
entered South
America, it did so
with an unusual
partner: the
International
Basic Economy
Corporation, a
company formed
by Nelson
Rockefeller to
raise the standard
of living through
business. The two
created Cargill
Agricola and set
to work providing
Brazilian farmers
with grain storage,
marketing options
and access to rail
service. Selling
its interest in 1957,
Cargill returned
in 1965 and today
celebrates 50
years in Brazil.
4 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
“Africa needs markets.
It needs commercial
marketing systems for
food more than any
other place on the planet.
If Cargill brought its
tremendous capacity
to add scale, improve
food production, cre-
ate standards, help
develop transport and
storage systems, and
promote food trade
across countries and
economies, that would
be a transformational
accomplishment for
the company and
for the ?ght to end
extreme poverty.”
Dr. Rajiv Shah
Distinguished Fellow,
Georgetown University
Former Administrator,
U.S. Agency for
International
Development
The Keystone Policy
Center honored Cargill,
Greenpeace and
McDonald’s for their
leadership in signifcantly
reducing deforestation
in the Amazon region
over the past decade
through the Brazilian
Soy Moratorium, a
voluntary zero-deforesta-
tion agreement.
“Organizations like
Cargill, McDonald’s and
Greenpeace are dem-
onstrating how we are
better and stronger when
we work together to ?nd
common higher ground.”
Christine Scanlan
President and CEO,
Keystone Policy Center
“At short notice, Cargill
came to our assistance
with a pricing structure
for cocoa beans to better
manage uncertainty and
provide some reassurance
to our farmers. They’ve
been a reliable buyer of
Ghanaian cocoa for years,
making it their business
to listen, understand and
respond to our needs.”
Edem Amegashie
Deputy Managing Director,
Cocoa Marketing Company, Ltd
Ghana Cocoa Board
14 years
Exports to Cuba
Our Miami team sells grain to Cuba under
humanitarian exemptions. We’re leading a
coalition to end the U.S. trade embargo in
order to open opportunities for U.S. farm-
ers and improve the lives of Cuba’s people.
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 5
Anticipating change
Changes in consumer preferences, technology and markets
are always inspiring our customers to create new offerings and
processes. We are applying fresh thinking to drive innovation that
can contribute to their success.
Less is more
Preserving the favor, texture and freshness that salt
delivers to food while reducing sodium is no easy
task. Understanding the effects of particle size and
shape – and the way sodium interacts with other
ingredients – is key to getting it right. As a food
company with deep understanding of the science
behind salt, Cargill helps customers reduce sodium
and improve performance with products that blend
consistently, dissolve faster to speed production
and adhere to food so less is wasted.
Our research has yielded impressive results:
• We developed a micro-fne salt that imparts
the same salty taste using much less product.
It allowed a global snacks company to reduce
sodium in potato chips by 25 percent without
including additional ingredients on its label.
• We helped a customer in Mexico reduce sodium
in premium deli meats by 25 percent without com-
promising quality. Pairing sodium chloride (salt)
with potassium chloride, a naturally occurring
mineral, maintains ideal texture during slicing.
• We lowered sodium in breakfast cereal while
surpassing a customer’s target for “bowl life,”
the measurement of how long cereal fakes stay
crispy in milk.
Farming seaweed deliciously
Carrageenan, a soluble fber harvested from red
seaweeds, has been used in foods for hundreds
of years. It lends a creamy texture and mouthfeel
without adding fat or calories, and it keeps dry ingre-
dients like cocoa powder suspended in liquids. All of
these properties make carrageenan especially popu-
lar in milk drinks and dairy applications. As demand
for this versatile ingredient grows, the availability of
wild red seaweeds, which are vulnerable to weather
events that disrupt the ocean foor, has become
less certain. To reduce the sourcing risk, Cargill
developed a new family of carrageenans made from
farmed seaweeds raised by smallholder farmers in
Indonesia, the Philippines and Tanzania. We share
best farming practices, as we also research how
more varieties of seaweed can be cultivated sus-
tainably. Customers appreciate the richness and
body these natural ingredients impart to their foods,
as well as the quality, safety and sustainability of
the supply.
Feeding growth in aquaculture
Aquaculture plays an increasing role in meeting
global demand for seafood. With more supply com-
ing from farmed sources, producers are working to
improve the productivity and sustainability of their
operations. Seajoy Group, one of Latin America’s
largest providers of premium farmed shrimp, takes
an entrepreneurial approach to meeting these goals.
Juvenile shrimp need high-protein diets to give them
a healthy start, so Seajoy uses Cargill’s nutrient-
dense, highly digestible feed in its hatcheries. The
product minimizes waste, improves water quality
and yields stronger shrimp for growth ponds. Feed
continues to be a critical factor in shrimp farming
because it makes up the largest share of produc-
tion costs. Through nutritive products and technical
support, we helped Seajoy boost its feed conversion
rate by more than 15 percent in 2014.
Customer requirements also play a role. To assist
Seajoy in meeting demand from European cus-
tomers for shrimp raised on GMO-free feeds, we
specially source, trace and certify our feed ingredi-
ents, which, in turn, supports Seajoy’s ability to earn
customers’ certifcation and trust.
1942
Cargill’s president,
John MacMillan,
Jr., and a college
friend worked for
three years to cre-
ate a food product,
dubbed “man
food” that would
be “absolutely
adequate in itself
for human nutrition.”
They didn’t fnd a
tasty mix, but the
concept affrmed
the nutritive value
of protein-rich
soybeans. Decades
later, when an
earthquake hit Haiti,
Cargill donated 18
tons of soybeans
to Kids Against
Hunger, which
provides all-in-one
meals to disaster
victims worldwide.
6 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
Sipping and
snacking
at sports
stadiums
can generate
tons of waste
in a single season, but
there’s a new game in
town: replacing petro-
leum-based plastics
with compostable cups,
straws, plates and cut-
lery made by packagers
using Ingeo
®
brand resin.
Derived from agricultural
feedstocks such as corn,
this low-carbon-footprint
product is manufactured
by NatureWorks, a joint
venture between Cargill
and Thailand’s PTT
Global Chemical. Along
with proper handling,
Ingeo resin-based pack-
aging makes it possible
for stadiums to divert a
dramatically increased
percentage of their solid
waste away from landflls,
for an all-star result.
Harvard University Dining Services
replaced traditional table salt in its
recipes with Cargill’s Diamond Crystal
®
Kosher Salt, cutting sodium across its
menus by 30 percent. The salt’s crystal
structure yields fakes with greater sur-
face area that cling better to food and
have less sodium content by volume.
Source:
The World Bank, 2013
62%
Aquaculture’s share of global ?sh
consumption is expected to reach
nearly 94 million tons, topping
60 percent, by 2030.
2008
65mt
47mt
2030
projected
58mt
94mt
Cargill’s feed mills
in Honduras and
Nicaragua achieved Best
Aquaculture Practices
certi?cation in 2015 – the
?rst in the region – and
now offer four-star,
BAP-certi?ed shrimp
and tilapia feed to cus-
tomers across Central
America.
$5.5M
We doubled the size of
our Food Innovation Center
in Minnesota
to give food manufacturing and
foodservice customers a state-of-the-art
facility where they can work alongside our
food scientists to accelerate innovation
and product development cycles.
Aquaculture
Wild catch
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 7
Building trust
People want to know more about the foods they eat: how and where
crops are grown, whether animals are treated humanely and the
wholesomeness of prepared foods. We are stepping up our efforts to
build transparent, sustainable supply chains.
An agent for change
Our U.S. pork business began transitioning to group
housing for sows 13 years ago, when questions
about the use of gestation crates were relatively
rare. The changeover was not simple: When mixed
together, sows will establish a social order through
aggressive behaviors that can lead to injuries,
especially at feeding time. The fghting creates
stress, making it harder for sows to become and
stay pregnant.
We learned how to build and manage group housing
that minimizes stress, improves health and repro-
ductive performance, and keeps costs under control.
By 2009, about half of the family-owned farms caring
for Cargill-owned sows were using group housing.
As customer and public interest grew, we made an
industry-leading move in 2014, committing to 100
percent group housing at our own facilities by Dec.
31, 2015. Through considerable investment and
training, we achieved our goal nearly a year ahead
of schedule, distinguishing the business as
a pacesetter in its industry.
Raising healthy animals
The use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry
production is generally accepted when treating
sick animals and preventing the spread of disease.
Yet some have concerns about using antibiotics
for growth promotion. Cargill has removed growth-
promoting antibiotics from our turkey focks, and
we are exploring alternative methods for keeping
animals healthy.
Ensuring animals have the right balance of microbes
for a healthy gastrointestinal tract is one solution.
Cargill has been studying how naturally occurring
microbes interact with animals in both positive and
negative ways. We have developed a tool that quick-
ly and effciently measures the quantity and types of
bacteria present in an animal’s intestine. With that
insight, we can make feeding adjustments using ad-
ditives, such as prebiotics, probiotics, essential oils,
organic acids and enzymes, that allow an animal to
counteract a population of negative bacteria.
So far, we have used this microbiological technique
to test and analyze chickens and turkeys. Once per-
fected, the tool will help Cargill and our customers
fne-tune the diets and improve the health of animals
in our care.
1991
Dr. Temple Grandin
approached Cargill
with a proposal for
handling livestock
more humanely.
Her blueprint for
how to offoad,
hold and move
cattle to slaughter
via a serpentine
chute reduced
animal stress and
produced better
beef. Cargill was
the frst to put her
ideas into practice
at its beef and
pork facilities.
Born with autism,
Grandin today
is a renowned
animal scientist
and source of
inspiration for
autistic children.
8 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
Tracing our palm supply
A reliable, sustainable and traceable supply of
palm oil is a priority, not only for Cargill but for our
customers who rely on us to help them meet their
own sustainability goals. Cargill has been working
with The Forest Trust since 2013 to map our palm
oil supply chain. We are on track to meet our goal
of providing palm oil that is 100 percent traceable
to the mill by the end of 2015 and sustainable by
2020. To verify compliance, we use data obtained
from mills, online satellite monitoring from Global
Forest Watch, on-the-ground feld assessments
conducted by The Forest Trust and our own
monitoring of forested land using unmanned
aerial vehicles, or drones, to manage our existing
environmental footprint.
“We see our role as
providing a critical
connection between
the beef producer
community and our
retailer customers
who have insight into
what consumers are
looking for. Cargill is
able to bring those
groups together and
facilitate conversation
to help improve the
sustainability of the beef
supply chain.”
Nicole
Johnson-Hoffman
Vice President,
Value-Added Meats
Cargill
“Cargill is able to reach a
large number of sup-
pliers across the broad
palm oil supply chain.
TFT and Cargill are orga-
nizing opportunities to
walk suppliers through
all the components of
Cargill’s palm policy and
help them understand
speci?c issues and how
to deal with them. This
dialogue about the
requirements of Cargill’s
policy helps transform
the industry by clearing
up misconceptions
so we can gain align-
ment and move ahead
with clarity.”
John Van’t Slot
Program Manager,
North America
The Forest Trust
“For food companies, consumer trust
is the No. 1 priority. We must answer
consumers’ questions about where their
food comes from and how it is made.
Nestlé can only answer these questions
by working with all upstream value chain
partners, such as Cargill.”
Marco Gonçalves
Chief Procurement Offcer,
Nestlé
300+
Food companies in 5 years
As a leading ingredients supplier, our
food scientists help food manufacturers
move away from partially hydrogenated
oils (the primary source of trans fat)
without sacrifcing the taste and texture
that consumers have come to love.
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 9
Committing to lead
Environmental change poses challenges for food and agriculture –
from pressure on natural resources to a changing climate. We are
accelerating actions to reduce our use of resources and advocating
for measures to improve adaptation and resilience.
Aiming higher
Twenty years ago, Cargill began setting fve-year
environment, health and safety goals. With each
cycle – we just began the ffth – we aim higher,
establishing targets that challenge our people and
facilities, and tackle issues important to our custom-
ers and stakeholders.
For the 2010-2015 round, we exceeded all four of
our energy and natural resource targets, saving
$80 million in the fnal year alone. Realizing our goals
requires sound capital investments coupled with
changes in behavior – everything from the simple
tagging for repair of leaks spotted in steam pipes to
the installation of combined heat and power systems
or membrane bioreactors that reuse water.
For 2020, we are targeting another 5 percent
improvement (from the 2015 baseline) in energy
and freshwater effciency, and in greenhouse gas
intensity. And we’ve upped the goal for renewable
energy to 18 percent of our energy portfolio. These
internal metrics are part of Cargill’s larger aspiration,
adopted this year, to be the most trusted source of
sustainable products and services in our industry.
Protecting forests
With their capacity for storing and absorbing green-
house gas emissions, forests play a critical role in
climate change adaptation and mitigation. They also
preserve biodiversity and ensure the livelihoods of
more than 1 billion people. Cargill has a long track
record of tackling deforestation issues, mainly in our
soy and palm oil supply chains. In September 2014,
we pledged to do more. At the U.N. Climate Summit
in New York, Cargill joined 41 companies, 32 govern-
ments and dozens of civil society groups in a pledge
to halve deforestation by 2020 and halt it by 2030.
“We want to do our very best to be the trusted sup-
plier of sustainable agricultural goods,” said Cargill
CEO David MacLennan. “It’s the right thing to do.”
1926
When the Cargill
Crop Bulletin
landed on farm-
ers’ doorsteps, it
brought news on
grain-growing
conditions
and prices in
North America.
Published 10
times a year, it
became an
essential resource.
Covering the Dust
Bowl in 1934:
“Getting pretty
dry. We need rain.
Drove via auto
the last two days,
trip of 400 miles
and fnd the corn
drying up, fred,
and is done for.”
Changing in form
and content with
the times, the pub-
lication was retired
in 2000.
Environmental
performance:
2015 goals
accomplished
2015 goal: 5%
7.1%
Five-year, 5 percent targets may
sound modest, but the global
reach of Cargill requires us to
achieve improvements at scales
exceeding the annual resource
consumption of some of our larg-
est businesses. For example, the
10 million gigajoules of energy
saved in fscal 2015 equates to
the amount of energy used by our
fourth-largest business unit over
the course of a year.
* Reported as the percentage
improvement over fiscal 2010 baseline.
Improvement in freshwater ef?ciency
6.6%
Improvement in greenhouse gas intensity
Improvement in energy ef?ciency
5.1%
10 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
“Everything challenging
about feeding a world
on its way to 9 billion
people is made more so
by the potential effects
of climate change. To
represent agriculture’s
interests in climate
change discussions, we
are participating in the
Risky Business Project,
which focuses on quan-
tifying risks that climate
change may present for
regions and sectors of
the U.S. economy. The
project sensibly treats
uncertainties presented
by climate change as
risks that can be man-
aged just as businesses
and governments miti-
gate and manage other
risks. We are optimistic
agriculture can adapt
to changes that cannot
be prevented and help
mitigate changes to
which it will be dif?cult
to adapt. Honoring the
principle of comparative
advantage and enabling
trust-based free trade
will continue to be
among the best means
to ensure the global
food system remains
resilient in the face
of potential climate-
related disruptions.”
Greg Page
Executive Chairman,
Cargill
2015 goal: 12.5%
We use 15+ different sources of renewable energy
at nearly 100 locations worldwide.
• Bagasse
• Biodiesel
• Biogas
• Cocoa shells
• Coconut shells
• Corn cobs
• Dry grass
• Green electricity
• Landfll gas
• Palm fruit fber
• Pecan shells
• Rice husks
• Sunfower hulls
• Tallow/animal
byproducts
• Vegetable oils/
animal fats
• Wood and
wood chips
We received a “Lean and Green
Star” for reducing transportation
CO2 emissions by 20 percent over
?ve years at our re?ned edible
oils facilities in the Netherlands.
The award is presented by
Connekt Sustainable Logistics,
a program supported by the
Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure
and Environment.
Our Friona, Texas, beef
plant, which sits atop the
huge but stressed Ogallala
Aquifer, received the Texas
Water Foundation’s Blue
Legacy Award for water conservation,
having cut its water use by nearly a
quarter over six years.
-25%
84/100
Our score on climate change
disclosure evaluation
Cargill was recognized in 2014 by CDP,
formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project,
as the leader in the agricultural sector
for activities tackling deforestation, a
refection of our work in palm oil and soy
supply chains.
Renewable sources in energy portfolio
14.1%
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 11
Cargill recently led a Learning Journey to Africa, home to some of the fastest-growing
economies and as much as 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, yet
a region where one-ffth of the population remains undernourished. Representing
business, academia, development agencies and the nonproft sector, the 25 travelers
saw the potential and the challenges in building value chains across South Africa and
Zambia. As they met people from farm to fork, they discussed current stresses on
the system and potential long-term solutions. Here, four of the participants continue
the conversation.
Take a Learning Journey
Today’s world is too complex for any one company to answer the ques-
tion of how we will feed a growing population. For a more collaborative
approach, Cargill is convening emerging leaders from global organiza-
tions to explore regional food systems frsthand and spark fresh thinking.
What issues have stuck with you the most since
returning from Africa?
Danielle Nierenberg: I keep thinking about the im-
portance of farmers being at the forefront of research
and development, and having a voice in decision-
making. Stronger farmers’ groups and cooperatives
are crucial to helping farmers increase yields, protect
the environment and raise their incomes.
Mercy Chen: I was surprised to see the lack of
proftability of the microfnance programs and other
efforts on the ground in Zambia. It calls into ques-
tion whether these endeavors will be sustainable in
the long term or even in the short term, regardless of
whether it is benefting the farmers.
Ashish Gupta: Like Mercy, I was surprised that
despite a very high level of repayment by the farmers
and high interest rates, these institutions are not
currently proftable. We saw quite a few projects
being run or funded by organizations with the goal of
uplifting farmers. But while these are laudable efforts,
I’m not sure they are scalable in a way that will solve
food security challenges. One missing ingredi-
ent seems to be a high-level synergy between the
private players on one hand and the local govern-
ment and village chiefs on the other, to decide on a
blueprint for transformation that will move forward in
a timely manner.
Bill Burke: I don’t think that environmental, social
and economic sustainability need be at odds. But
a whole host of factors come into play on any one
issue. Fertilizers are a good example. Much of the
soil in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly vulnerable
to rapid degradation – it’s just a fact of nature, not
anyone’s fault. So proper soil management (replac-
ing nutrients while avoiding over-fertilization) is more
pressing there than any other part of the developing
world. The typical government approach has been
to subsidize inputs. But this needs to be done in a
transparent way that encourages appropriate use.
1923
We bought an
asset that was
no commodity: a
state-of-the-art
teletype system.
It transmitted
messages almost
instantly, at
low cost, with
accuracy and
confdentiality.
“Sending a wire”
was Cargill’s trans-
mission system for
60+ years.
Fast-forward
to 2015 and our
Africa Learning
Journey. From
half-a-world
away, we provided
real-time updates,
including blog
posts, photo-
graphs and video,
all uploaded to
Cargill.com and
further shared
via Twitter
and LinkedIn.
12 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
Bill Burke is an
agricultural econo-
mist and research
scholar at Stanford
University’s Center
on Food Security
and the Environment.
He lived in Zambia
for three years and
returns regularly to
conduct research.
Mercy Chen is a
trader for Cargill
based in Shanghai,
China, specializing
in cash and
futures markets for
vegetable oils.
Ashish Gupta
works for Unilever
as procurement
manager in fats and
oils for geographies
in Africa, the Middle
East and Eastern
Europe. He is based
in Dubai.
Danielle Nierenberg
is the founder and
president of Food
Tank. She has written
extensively on sus-
tainable agriculture,
gender and popula-
tion, and farming in
the developing world.
In what other ways were you challenged,
encouraged or surprised by what you saw and
discussed on the trip?
Ashish: I knew beforehand that landownership and
fragmentation of land are major challenges to agri-
cultural productivity in Africa. However, our series of
discussions with farmers and women’s groups made
me understand the intricate details and complexities
of this issue. For me, there were two “aha!” moments
that came out of these discussions: frst, that village
chiefs play a very infuential role in the allocation of
land for agriculture and thus need to be an integral
part of any initiatives in this area; and second, in
markets like Zambia, smallholder farming is the real-
ity for a very large segment of agriculture, and hence
we need to think of solutions within the framework of
farms smaller than 10 hectares.
Mercy: Storage capacity is one of the biggest chal-
lenges for farmers in Africa. Lack of storage can
force them to sell below a price they could get at a
time other than harvest. And there are serious waste
issues that result. When we saw that farmers are
now getting access from one supplier to hermetically
sealed storage bags in Chipata, I was very happy
to see someone trying to give them more options
and prevent loss. This isn’t necessarily the most
advanced technology, but it provides a practical
solution to the local market.
Danielle: One of the reasons I went on this trip is
to do what I say should happen in the food system—
we need to break down silos and get more people,
including farmers, nutritionists, policymakers,
nonprofts and businesses, talking to one another.
I know that organizations like mine need to stop
demonizing corporations and realize that because of
their tremendous power and money, we need to be
talking to them. I am not saying that we’ll necessarily
agree, but we need to be talking—and I think it was
good for Cargill and other companies who were on
the trip to understand that nonprofts are not out to
get them. We want many of the same things: a world
where everyone is well-nourished and can have a
healthy, sustainable life.
Looking at the group as a whole, what do you
think were the most interesting debates during
the week? What underlying issues around
food systems do you think those debates
pointed toward?
Danielle: I actually thought there would be more
disagreement. I think we all came with different
viewpoints, but we may have been too polite. I wish
we could have hashed out some issues like whether
encouraging farmers to focus on commodity crops
and expensive inputs is the way forward for food
production. Why are we forcing small-scale farm-
ers to compete in a global marketplace against big
farmers? Why isn’t there more focus from companies
on creating regional food systems that emphasize
local resources and production of inputs, which will
likely be more resilient over the long run as global
population grows and the impacts of climate change
become more evident?
Mercy: I think there is an issue of self-suffciency
versus international competitiveness. A lot of dis-
cussion focuses on the possibility of making Africa
self-suffcient, but if the continent is not competitive
against other markets, it will be hard for them to sus-
tain this in the long run. Strong governance will be
needed to improve the effciency of the entire food
supply chain, including building the infrastructure to
connect local farmers and smallholders to markets,
and strengthening education to empower the next
generation of young farmers.
Bill: Another vigorous conversation on the trip was
around genetically modifed organisms, which are
grown in South Africa but not Zambia. GMOs feed
more people, and fortifed GMOs provide more nutri-
tious foods. Yet here, as in other areas, knowledge
gaps remain, and good and honest people can and
do debate the merits of GMOs. To paraphrase a
colleague, if you ask people what they think about
GMOs on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being an environ-
mental catastrophe and 10 being able to feed every-
one in the world, it seems like everybody is either a 1
or a 10. But based on my instinct, it’s probably closer
to a 4 or a 6. To me, that’s the space where we need
to be having these discussions.
As we think about the larger implications for
providing enough food for more than 9 billion
people globally by mid-century, what learning
should Cargill take away from this trip?
Ashish: There clearly are a great variety of organiza-
tions involved in helping improve farmer livelihoods
and hence food security overall. While we saw small
pockets of good success stories, for this to make
a signifcant difference in the larger food security
equation, I believe a few things have to change.
There needs to be greater collaboration among all
of the players working on various parts of the value
chain in order for them to succeed. The focus should
be on addressing the major issues through a coor-
dinated strategy that can be brought to scale, rather
than creating a few examples of success. And the
African people need to be at the center of owning
and driving these programs. I really believe that the
next two decades will be Africa’s time, and Africa will
overcome these challenges.
Bill: While Africa’s agrarian communities face many
constraints, it’s not for lack of determined and hard-
working individuals. The sooner that donors, gov-
ernments and businesses not only realize this, but
embrace it, the better off we’ll all be. Africa needn’t
be a charity case. The proper inputs, research, train-
ing and institutional support can make this a reality.
That’s not to say that African agriculture should look
like American, Asian or European agriculture – it
almost certainly should not – but a mature African
agricultural sector will be far more capable of feed-
ing the continent than most people realize.
Find more stories, photos and videos from the
Africa Learning Journey at: www.cargill.com/
learning-journey/africa
www.cargill.com
P.O. Box 9300
Minneapolis, MN 55440
© 2015 Cargill,
Incorporated.
Printed in U.S.A.
CCA-111A-15
Cargill is committed to operating responsibly as we pursue our purpose to be
the global leader in nourishing people. Our 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report
is available online at www.cargill.com.
Cargill provides food, agriculture, fnancial and industrial products and services to the
world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people
thrive by applying our insights and 150 years of experience. We have 153,000 employees
in 67 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing
environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work. For more
information, visit www.cargill.com and our News Center.
To learn more about Cargill’s ?rst 150 years, visit www.cargill.com/150
150 years
of helping the
world thrive
doc_529681097.pdf
Cargill's financial results in fiscal 2015 did not meet expectations. The company earned $1.58 billion, down 13 percent from last year. Sales and other revenues decreased 11 percent to $120.4 billion. Cash flow from operations equaled $3.82 billion.
Cargill@150
2015 Annual Report
Listening. Learning. Leading.
In 2015, we mark our 150th year in business. We have grown from a
single grain elevator in Iowa to a company with 153,000 employees in
67 countries engaged in the essential work of nourishing people.
We operate across many supply chains, balancing the diverse interests
of customers and stakeholders. In the years ahead, meeting the
challenges of the world’s interdependent food and agriculture system
will call for broad collaboration. We embrace this opportunity with a
willingness to listen and learn that is essential to our company’s growth
and our commitment to helping the world thrive.
To read more about Cargill’s ?rst 150 years, visit www.cargill.com/150
Cargill is celebrating its 150th anniversary,
a tribute to the commitment, optimism and
resilience of its family owners and employees.
Over the years, the company has experienced
remarkable successes, occasional setbacks
and exceptional growth. And through it all, an
enduring commitment to nourishing people.
Cargill’s rich history has been a catalyst for
thinking about the future. We have always
been a learning organization, and that is more
important than ever, given the accelerating level
of complexity and change in the world. With
learning comes listening, and there we bring an
“outside-in” view of the world to our planning
and decision-making. We also know our cus-
tomers and other partners expect us to lead – in
supply chain management, food safety, nutrition,
risk management and sustainability.
Our customers and stakeholders are asking
more from us, just as we are demanding more
from ourselves.
Financial performance
Cargill’s fnancial results in fscal 2015 did not meet
expectations. The company earned $1.58 billion,
down 13 percent from last year. Sales and other rev-
enues decreased 11 percent to $120.4 billion. Cash
fow from operations equaled $3.82 billion.
Even in a challenging year, several of our businesses
generated record earnings: global animal nutrition,
Canadian farm services, Central American meats,
U.S. turkey, egg further processing, food and deicing
salts, industrial specialties, and trade and structured
fnance. We also saw solid gains in European poultry
and U.S. pork, and a turnaround in petroleum. Our
new joint ventures, Alvean (global sugar trading) and
Ardent Mills (North American four milling), got off to
a strong start.
Segment results
Animal Nutrition & Protein posted a solid increase
in proftability. The segment executed well, drawing
on its global footprint, diverse products and services,
and this year’s lower feed input costs to generate
earnings growth.
Origination & Processing results rose slightly as
back-to-back years of record harvests allowed the
rebuilding of global stocks, which muted price vola-
tility and market opportunities. The segment man-
aged an unusual market duality: In South America,
farmers held their crops to wait out low prices and
guard against potential currency devaluation. That
reduced soybean crush volumes and exports, and
caused global buyers to turn northward, which
boosted results in North America.
Earnings in Food Ingredients & Applications de-
creased considerably from last year. The economic
slowdown in China and other emerging markets,
where many of the segment’s recent capital invest-
ments have been directed, weakened results. In
developed countries, consumers’ rapidly evolv-
ing preferences for the foods and beverages they
consume impacted sales. We are making compre-
hensive changes to improve proftability and reshape
the portfolio for higher performance. This involves
reducing costs, aligning investments and assets
with projected returns, and positioning to be the
innovation partner that customers choose to help
them renew their product lines as they, too, respond
to slower sales growth and a range of consum-
er preferences.
Earnings in energy rebounded, especially in petro-
leum. The upturn was aided by last fscal year’s re-
structuring and the deft management of 2014’s swift
and sharp drop in crude oil prices. Disappointing
performance elsewhere in the segment held
Industrial & Financial Services earnings below the
year-ago level.
To our stakeholders
Greg Page
Executive Chairman
David MacLennan
President and CEO
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 1
External events also were part of the dynamic:
• Foreign exchange markets were volatile, pro-
pelled by the appreciation of the U.S. dollar
against other currencies. Many of our European-
and Latin American-based businesses were
negatively impacted but, based on past experi-
ence, those effects should even out over time.
• We again incurred charges against earnings
due to Venezuela’s revisions of its currency
exchange system.
• The Russia-Ukraine confict was costly – from the
forced closure of our oilseed processing plant in
Donetsk to the lost opportunities of a region in
economic contraction.
Lastly, we recorded a number of one-time items
related to asset impairments and other adjustments
and charges.
Focus and discipline
Cargill has a history of rising to challenges. Across
the company, we are focusing on fve areas we
believe are the most important for strengthening
proftability and restoring growth:
Operate with excellence: Work is underway in our
businesses to increase plant productivity, optimize
supply chains and raise marketing effectiveness.
Take a common approach, where sensible:
Six Cargill-staffed shared services centers are up
and running in Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China,
Costa Rica and India. By centralizing common
work processes for human resources, information
technology, fnance, logistics and sourcing, we drive
effciency. And that lets our business units concen-
trate on customers and markets.
We continue to modernize Cargill’s enterprise
resource planning systems. Although we had a
signifcant setback in one instance, we are making
the necessary adjustments and moving forward to
capture the benefts of integrated business informa-
tion and analytics.
Invest to serve customers: This past year, we
invested $3.43 billion in capabilities and capacities
important to our customers. Some of the highlights:
Capital expenditures:
25% acquisitions/joint ventures
49% new/expanded facilities
26% safety/energy/environment/other
• With rising demand for sustainable palm oil, we
acquired Indonesian producer Poliplant Group.
• Interest in canola oil continues to grow. We
opened a new oil refnery in Saskatchewan,
followed at year-end by a new crush facility in
Alberta. It sits on the 53rd parallel, the northern-
most plant in Cargill’s North American network.
• We invested globally in animal nutrition to support
the higher demand for animal protein that comes
with income growth in developing countries.
Cargill@150
$57.9M
contributed to
communities in
57 countries
in ?scal 2015
in support of food
security, education and
the environment
We aspire to be the global
leader in nourishing people.
67
countries
65+
languages
153k
employees
This is fundamental to all that we do.
2 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
• The new cocoa processing plant in Indonesia
and expanded chocolate facility in Belgium
both began operations. We also completed the
purchase of Archer Daniels Midland’s European
and U.S. chocolate business in the fscal 2016
frst quarter.
• We are gradually growing our presence in sub-
Saharan Africa, purchasing a grain-handling
business in Kenya and soybean processing busi-
ness in Zambia.
• Cargill’s new sunfower seed crush plant in Russia
is nearing completion.
We also made changes to the portfolio. In the U.S.,
we closed a corn wet mill, sold a cattle feed yard,
shuttered a beef facility and consolidated three meat
packaging plants into two. We sold Cargill’s interests
in two joint ventures: Chinese specialty ingredients
and Spanish olive oil. We exited cotton in Zimbabwe
due to deteriorating business conditions there.
Be the trusted partner: In every corner of the world,
Cargill is fulflling our sesquicentennial’s signature:
150 years of helping the world thrive.
• In China, we accelerated the startup of our
chicken further processing plant after a competi-
tor’s food safety scandal imperiled our customer’s
local supply chain.
• In compressed time frames, we achieved our
goals for 100 percent group housing of sows
at Cargill-owned facilities and for the removal
of growth-promoting antibiotics from all Cargill
turkey focks.
• We developed custom solutions for farm, food
and energy customers seeking to manage their
businesses’ commodity price risk.
• Working with their trade fows, we arranged
fnancing for customers as varied as an egg sup-
plier and an energy company.
• We created a GMO-free corn syrup – the frst ever
in the U.S. – to support ingredient changes in a
confectionery customer’s iconic brands.
• Applying years of experience, we helped food
customers replace partially hydrogenated oils (the
primary source of trans fat) in foods where fats are
key to taste and texture.
We were honored to be the frst recipient of
Unilever’s Visionary Award for our collaboration
in providing a series of innovation, supply chain
and sustainability solutions. In partnership with
Greenpeace and McDonald’s, we were pleased
to accept the Keystone Policy Center’s leader-
ship award for reducing deforestation in Brazil’s
Amazon region.
This year also marks Cargill’s adoption of a compa-
nywide sustainability strategy. We set an ambitious
goal to be the most trusted source of sustainable
products and services in our industry. We have
identifed four areas where we can have the great-
est impact across the supply chains we touch: land
use (including deforestation), water use, climate
change and farmer livelihoods. As we set targets and
undertake actions in each of these areas, we expect
to achieve positive impacts that reach far beyond the
company’s operations.
Tap employees’ full potential: We were delighted to
have Cargill named to Aon Hewitt’s Top Companies
for Leaders
®
list for 2014. Because of the rapidly
changing environment, we recognize the importance
of developing agile, decisive and engaging leaders
who build strong teams and create inclusive environ-
ments where all employees can succeed.
Further strengthening our safety culture allowed
Cargill to cross a new threshold in fscal 2015. We at-
tained the company’s lowest rate of reportable injury
(1.47 per 200,000 hours worked). Almost 74 percent
of 1,425 locations worked injury-free. Our safety in-
dex fell below 1.0 (to 0.81) for the frst time ever. And
together we worked 257 million hours from Sept. 1
to May 7 without a fatality. Yet we suffered four fatali-
ties over the course of the fscal year, tragically far
from our goal of zero. We are determined to reach
this mark and are confdent it can be done.
In closing
We want to express our pride in the Cargill team. In
a year of highs and lows, our employees kept each
other safe, followed the company’s guiding prin-
ciples and advanced our commitment to helping
customers and stakeholders thrive.
We are a company that listens, learns and leads.
We are honored to steward the legacy of preceding
generations and proud to carry it forward. As we
celebrate our 150th year in business, we fnd
Cargill’s purpose – to be the global leader in
nourishing people – to be more essential than ever.
It is our challenge and, indeed, our privilege, to help
feed the world sustainably.
Sincerely,
David W. MacLennan
President and Chief Executive Offcer
Gregory R. Page
Executive Chairman
Aug. 19, 2015
1934
A dust explosion
and fre at Cargill’s
grain terminal in
Omaha, Nebraska,
killed three men
and injured others.
The investigation
found the facility’s
unconventional
design, conceived
by then Cargill
Vice President
John MacMillan
Jr., had prevented
a greater loss of
life. Cargill began
a safety campaign,
with education on
grain handling and
a challenge to run
without accidents.
The continuous
improvement of
workplace safety
has been a cultural
cornerstone
ever since.
Gregory R Page
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 3
Tackling complexity
Broad challenges take collective wisdom to solve. In addressing the
complexity of helping feed the world responsibly, we are seeking
new perspectives and collaborative approaches that deliver wide-
ranging benefts.
Securing predictable pricing
Commodity prices are impacted by a host of uncer-
tainties, be it weather, supply and demand, or
disruptive events, to name just a few. These factors
cause prices to fuctuate, which creates risk –
especially for a government agency responsible for
purchasing, marketing and exporting its country’s
most important crop. That’s the job of Ghana’s
Cocoa Marketing Company. Ghana is the second-
largest producer of cocoa, accounting for about 20
percent of global output.
Prices were volatile in 2014, as concerns about the
possible spread of the Ebola virus added a new
worry to the market. Sensing the CMC’s need for
greater predictability, Cargill created a custom-
ized risk management solution that allowed the
CMC to lock in an attractive price on a specifed
tonnage of cocoa beans and still retain the ability
to beneft from upside potential. And we delivered
quickly, providing a degree of certainty when it was
needed most.
Producing sustainable palm oil
Keeping up with the world’s appetite for palm oil
means producers must expand capacity while
reducing environmental impact and protecting the
rights of indigenous communities. To help meet
demand, Cargill acquired Poliplant Group, a palm
plantation in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. We
also reached out to environmental consulting frm
Daemeter to help bring the plantation in line with
our sustainability standards.
Daemeter is carrying out feld assessments of the
property’s 50,000 hectares to identify any high con-
servation value lands that support biodiversity and
high carbon stock forested areas. Both types of land
will remain off-limits for development. Their work is
helping us achieve compliance with our own palm oil
policy, as well as certifcation by the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil.
Building a strong connection with the community
also is a priority. At our other plantations, Cargill has
helped smallholder farmers achieve RSPO certifca-
tion. As a frst step in strengthening ties with our new
neighbors, Daemeter conducted a social impact
assessment, providing valuable insights for further
developing our capacity to operate responsibly.
Making food safer
Key to ensuring safe food is achieving consis-
tency in food safety standards and processes.
International exchanges can play a valuable role.
Beginning in 2008, Cargill worked with China’s
General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and others to
bring 100 Chinese government offcials to food pro-
duction sites across Europe and the U.S. to share
best practices. For those participants engaged
in updating China’s food safety regulations, the
program provided insights that helped modernize
the requirements for foods made for domestic con-
sumption, as well as for import and export.
In 2014, we invited a Chinese delegation to visit
Cargill’s poultry facility in Anhui province to share our
standards and systems for poultry production. The
exchange led to a new fve-year program, launched
in April 2015, that focuses at a granular level on the
implementation of China’s food safety policies. It
brings together practitioners from industry, academia
and government to gain alignment. We believe this
level of public-private collaboration – uncommon in
China – will continue making food safer.
1948
When Cargill
entered South
America, it did so
with an unusual
partner: the
International
Basic Economy
Corporation, a
company formed
by Nelson
Rockefeller to
raise the standard
of living through
business. The two
created Cargill
Agricola and set
to work providing
Brazilian farmers
with grain storage,
marketing options
and access to rail
service. Selling
its interest in 1957,
Cargill returned
in 1965 and today
celebrates 50
years in Brazil.
4 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
“Africa needs markets.
It needs commercial
marketing systems for
food more than any
other place on the planet.
If Cargill brought its
tremendous capacity
to add scale, improve
food production, cre-
ate standards, help
develop transport and
storage systems, and
promote food trade
across countries and
economies, that would
be a transformational
accomplishment for
the company and
for the ?ght to end
extreme poverty.”
Dr. Rajiv Shah
Distinguished Fellow,
Georgetown University
Former Administrator,
U.S. Agency for
International
Development
The Keystone Policy
Center honored Cargill,
Greenpeace and
McDonald’s for their
leadership in signifcantly
reducing deforestation
in the Amazon region
over the past decade
through the Brazilian
Soy Moratorium, a
voluntary zero-deforesta-
tion agreement.
“Organizations like
Cargill, McDonald’s and
Greenpeace are dem-
onstrating how we are
better and stronger when
we work together to ?nd
common higher ground.”
Christine Scanlan
President and CEO,
Keystone Policy Center
“At short notice, Cargill
came to our assistance
with a pricing structure
for cocoa beans to better
manage uncertainty and
provide some reassurance
to our farmers. They’ve
been a reliable buyer of
Ghanaian cocoa for years,
making it their business
to listen, understand and
respond to our needs.”
Edem Amegashie
Deputy Managing Director,
Cocoa Marketing Company, Ltd
Ghana Cocoa Board
14 years
Exports to Cuba
Our Miami team sells grain to Cuba under
humanitarian exemptions. We’re leading a
coalition to end the U.S. trade embargo in
order to open opportunities for U.S. farm-
ers and improve the lives of Cuba’s people.
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 5
Anticipating change
Changes in consumer preferences, technology and markets
are always inspiring our customers to create new offerings and
processes. We are applying fresh thinking to drive innovation that
can contribute to their success.
Less is more
Preserving the favor, texture and freshness that salt
delivers to food while reducing sodium is no easy
task. Understanding the effects of particle size and
shape – and the way sodium interacts with other
ingredients – is key to getting it right. As a food
company with deep understanding of the science
behind salt, Cargill helps customers reduce sodium
and improve performance with products that blend
consistently, dissolve faster to speed production
and adhere to food so less is wasted.
Our research has yielded impressive results:
• We developed a micro-fne salt that imparts
the same salty taste using much less product.
It allowed a global snacks company to reduce
sodium in potato chips by 25 percent without
including additional ingredients on its label.
• We helped a customer in Mexico reduce sodium
in premium deli meats by 25 percent without com-
promising quality. Pairing sodium chloride (salt)
with potassium chloride, a naturally occurring
mineral, maintains ideal texture during slicing.
• We lowered sodium in breakfast cereal while
surpassing a customer’s target for “bowl life,”
the measurement of how long cereal fakes stay
crispy in milk.
Farming seaweed deliciously
Carrageenan, a soluble fber harvested from red
seaweeds, has been used in foods for hundreds
of years. It lends a creamy texture and mouthfeel
without adding fat or calories, and it keeps dry ingre-
dients like cocoa powder suspended in liquids. All of
these properties make carrageenan especially popu-
lar in milk drinks and dairy applications. As demand
for this versatile ingredient grows, the availability of
wild red seaweeds, which are vulnerable to weather
events that disrupt the ocean foor, has become
less certain. To reduce the sourcing risk, Cargill
developed a new family of carrageenans made from
farmed seaweeds raised by smallholder farmers in
Indonesia, the Philippines and Tanzania. We share
best farming practices, as we also research how
more varieties of seaweed can be cultivated sus-
tainably. Customers appreciate the richness and
body these natural ingredients impart to their foods,
as well as the quality, safety and sustainability of
the supply.
Feeding growth in aquaculture
Aquaculture plays an increasing role in meeting
global demand for seafood. With more supply com-
ing from farmed sources, producers are working to
improve the productivity and sustainability of their
operations. Seajoy Group, one of Latin America’s
largest providers of premium farmed shrimp, takes
an entrepreneurial approach to meeting these goals.
Juvenile shrimp need high-protein diets to give them
a healthy start, so Seajoy uses Cargill’s nutrient-
dense, highly digestible feed in its hatcheries. The
product minimizes waste, improves water quality
and yields stronger shrimp for growth ponds. Feed
continues to be a critical factor in shrimp farming
because it makes up the largest share of produc-
tion costs. Through nutritive products and technical
support, we helped Seajoy boost its feed conversion
rate by more than 15 percent in 2014.
Customer requirements also play a role. To assist
Seajoy in meeting demand from European cus-
tomers for shrimp raised on GMO-free feeds, we
specially source, trace and certify our feed ingredi-
ents, which, in turn, supports Seajoy’s ability to earn
customers’ certifcation and trust.
1942
Cargill’s president,
John MacMillan,
Jr., and a college
friend worked for
three years to cre-
ate a food product,
dubbed “man
food” that would
be “absolutely
adequate in itself
for human nutrition.”
They didn’t fnd a
tasty mix, but the
concept affrmed
the nutritive value
of protein-rich
soybeans. Decades
later, when an
earthquake hit Haiti,
Cargill donated 18
tons of soybeans
to Kids Against
Hunger, which
provides all-in-one
meals to disaster
victims worldwide.
6 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
Sipping and
snacking
at sports
stadiums
can generate
tons of waste
in a single season, but
there’s a new game in
town: replacing petro-
leum-based plastics
with compostable cups,
straws, plates and cut-
lery made by packagers
using Ingeo
®
brand resin.
Derived from agricultural
feedstocks such as corn,
this low-carbon-footprint
product is manufactured
by NatureWorks, a joint
venture between Cargill
and Thailand’s PTT
Global Chemical. Along
with proper handling,
Ingeo resin-based pack-
aging makes it possible
for stadiums to divert a
dramatically increased
percentage of their solid
waste away from landflls,
for an all-star result.
Harvard University Dining Services
replaced traditional table salt in its
recipes with Cargill’s Diamond Crystal
®
Kosher Salt, cutting sodium across its
menus by 30 percent. The salt’s crystal
structure yields fakes with greater sur-
face area that cling better to food and
have less sodium content by volume.
Source:
The World Bank, 2013
62%
Aquaculture’s share of global ?sh
consumption is expected to reach
nearly 94 million tons, topping
60 percent, by 2030.
2008
65mt
47mt
2030
projected
58mt
94mt
Cargill’s feed mills
in Honduras and
Nicaragua achieved Best
Aquaculture Practices
certi?cation in 2015 – the
?rst in the region – and
now offer four-star,
BAP-certi?ed shrimp
and tilapia feed to cus-
tomers across Central
America.
$5.5M
We doubled the size of
our Food Innovation Center
in Minnesota
to give food manufacturing and
foodservice customers a state-of-the-art
facility where they can work alongside our
food scientists to accelerate innovation
and product development cycles.
Aquaculture
Wild catch
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 7
Building trust
People want to know more about the foods they eat: how and where
crops are grown, whether animals are treated humanely and the
wholesomeness of prepared foods. We are stepping up our efforts to
build transparent, sustainable supply chains.
An agent for change
Our U.S. pork business began transitioning to group
housing for sows 13 years ago, when questions
about the use of gestation crates were relatively
rare. The changeover was not simple: When mixed
together, sows will establish a social order through
aggressive behaviors that can lead to injuries,
especially at feeding time. The fghting creates
stress, making it harder for sows to become and
stay pregnant.
We learned how to build and manage group housing
that minimizes stress, improves health and repro-
ductive performance, and keeps costs under control.
By 2009, about half of the family-owned farms caring
for Cargill-owned sows were using group housing.
As customer and public interest grew, we made an
industry-leading move in 2014, committing to 100
percent group housing at our own facilities by Dec.
31, 2015. Through considerable investment and
training, we achieved our goal nearly a year ahead
of schedule, distinguishing the business as
a pacesetter in its industry.
Raising healthy animals
The use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry
production is generally accepted when treating
sick animals and preventing the spread of disease.
Yet some have concerns about using antibiotics
for growth promotion. Cargill has removed growth-
promoting antibiotics from our turkey focks, and
we are exploring alternative methods for keeping
animals healthy.
Ensuring animals have the right balance of microbes
for a healthy gastrointestinal tract is one solution.
Cargill has been studying how naturally occurring
microbes interact with animals in both positive and
negative ways. We have developed a tool that quick-
ly and effciently measures the quantity and types of
bacteria present in an animal’s intestine. With that
insight, we can make feeding adjustments using ad-
ditives, such as prebiotics, probiotics, essential oils,
organic acids and enzymes, that allow an animal to
counteract a population of negative bacteria.
So far, we have used this microbiological technique
to test and analyze chickens and turkeys. Once per-
fected, the tool will help Cargill and our customers
fne-tune the diets and improve the health of animals
in our care.
1991
Dr. Temple Grandin
approached Cargill
with a proposal for
handling livestock
more humanely.
Her blueprint for
how to offoad,
hold and move
cattle to slaughter
via a serpentine
chute reduced
animal stress and
produced better
beef. Cargill was
the frst to put her
ideas into practice
at its beef and
pork facilities.
Born with autism,
Grandin today
is a renowned
animal scientist
and source of
inspiration for
autistic children.
8 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
Tracing our palm supply
A reliable, sustainable and traceable supply of
palm oil is a priority, not only for Cargill but for our
customers who rely on us to help them meet their
own sustainability goals. Cargill has been working
with The Forest Trust since 2013 to map our palm
oil supply chain. We are on track to meet our goal
of providing palm oil that is 100 percent traceable
to the mill by the end of 2015 and sustainable by
2020. To verify compliance, we use data obtained
from mills, online satellite monitoring from Global
Forest Watch, on-the-ground feld assessments
conducted by The Forest Trust and our own
monitoring of forested land using unmanned
aerial vehicles, or drones, to manage our existing
environmental footprint.
“We see our role as
providing a critical
connection between
the beef producer
community and our
retailer customers
who have insight into
what consumers are
looking for. Cargill is
able to bring those
groups together and
facilitate conversation
to help improve the
sustainability of the beef
supply chain.”
Nicole
Johnson-Hoffman
Vice President,
Value-Added Meats
Cargill
“Cargill is able to reach a
large number of sup-
pliers across the broad
palm oil supply chain.
TFT and Cargill are orga-
nizing opportunities to
walk suppliers through
all the components of
Cargill’s palm policy and
help them understand
speci?c issues and how
to deal with them. This
dialogue about the
requirements of Cargill’s
policy helps transform
the industry by clearing
up misconceptions
so we can gain align-
ment and move ahead
with clarity.”
John Van’t Slot
Program Manager,
North America
The Forest Trust
“For food companies, consumer trust
is the No. 1 priority. We must answer
consumers’ questions about where their
food comes from and how it is made.
Nestlé can only answer these questions
by working with all upstream value chain
partners, such as Cargill.”
Marco Gonçalves
Chief Procurement Offcer,
Nestlé
300+
Food companies in 5 years
As a leading ingredients supplier, our
food scientists help food manufacturers
move away from partially hydrogenated
oils (the primary source of trans fat)
without sacrifcing the taste and texture
that consumers have come to love.
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 9
Committing to lead
Environmental change poses challenges for food and agriculture –
from pressure on natural resources to a changing climate. We are
accelerating actions to reduce our use of resources and advocating
for measures to improve adaptation and resilience.
Aiming higher
Twenty years ago, Cargill began setting fve-year
environment, health and safety goals. With each
cycle – we just began the ffth – we aim higher,
establishing targets that challenge our people and
facilities, and tackle issues important to our custom-
ers and stakeholders.
For the 2010-2015 round, we exceeded all four of
our energy and natural resource targets, saving
$80 million in the fnal year alone. Realizing our goals
requires sound capital investments coupled with
changes in behavior – everything from the simple
tagging for repair of leaks spotted in steam pipes to
the installation of combined heat and power systems
or membrane bioreactors that reuse water.
For 2020, we are targeting another 5 percent
improvement (from the 2015 baseline) in energy
and freshwater effciency, and in greenhouse gas
intensity. And we’ve upped the goal for renewable
energy to 18 percent of our energy portfolio. These
internal metrics are part of Cargill’s larger aspiration,
adopted this year, to be the most trusted source of
sustainable products and services in our industry.
Protecting forests
With their capacity for storing and absorbing green-
house gas emissions, forests play a critical role in
climate change adaptation and mitigation. They also
preserve biodiversity and ensure the livelihoods of
more than 1 billion people. Cargill has a long track
record of tackling deforestation issues, mainly in our
soy and palm oil supply chains. In September 2014,
we pledged to do more. At the U.N. Climate Summit
in New York, Cargill joined 41 companies, 32 govern-
ments and dozens of civil society groups in a pledge
to halve deforestation by 2020 and halt it by 2030.
“We want to do our very best to be the trusted sup-
plier of sustainable agricultural goods,” said Cargill
CEO David MacLennan. “It’s the right thing to do.”
1926
When the Cargill
Crop Bulletin
landed on farm-
ers’ doorsteps, it
brought news on
grain-growing
conditions
and prices in
North America.
Published 10
times a year, it
became an
essential resource.
Covering the Dust
Bowl in 1934:
“Getting pretty
dry. We need rain.
Drove via auto
the last two days,
trip of 400 miles
and fnd the corn
drying up, fred,
and is done for.”
Changing in form
and content with
the times, the pub-
lication was retired
in 2000.
Environmental
performance:
2015 goals
accomplished
2015 goal: 5%
7.1%
Five-year, 5 percent targets may
sound modest, but the global
reach of Cargill requires us to
achieve improvements at scales
exceeding the annual resource
consumption of some of our larg-
est businesses. For example, the
10 million gigajoules of energy
saved in fscal 2015 equates to
the amount of energy used by our
fourth-largest business unit over
the course of a year.
* Reported as the percentage
improvement over fiscal 2010 baseline.
Improvement in freshwater ef?ciency
6.6%
Improvement in greenhouse gas intensity
Improvement in energy ef?ciency
5.1%
10 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
“Everything challenging
about feeding a world
on its way to 9 billion
people is made more so
by the potential effects
of climate change. To
represent agriculture’s
interests in climate
change discussions, we
are participating in the
Risky Business Project,
which focuses on quan-
tifying risks that climate
change may present for
regions and sectors of
the U.S. economy. The
project sensibly treats
uncertainties presented
by climate change as
risks that can be man-
aged just as businesses
and governments miti-
gate and manage other
risks. We are optimistic
agriculture can adapt
to changes that cannot
be prevented and help
mitigate changes to
which it will be dif?cult
to adapt. Honoring the
principle of comparative
advantage and enabling
trust-based free trade
will continue to be
among the best means
to ensure the global
food system remains
resilient in the face
of potential climate-
related disruptions.”
Greg Page
Executive Chairman,
Cargill
2015 goal: 12.5%
We use 15+ different sources of renewable energy
at nearly 100 locations worldwide.
• Bagasse
• Biodiesel
• Biogas
• Cocoa shells
• Coconut shells
• Corn cobs
• Dry grass
• Green electricity
• Landfll gas
• Palm fruit fber
• Pecan shells
• Rice husks
• Sunfower hulls
• Tallow/animal
byproducts
• Vegetable oils/
animal fats
• Wood and
wood chips
We received a “Lean and Green
Star” for reducing transportation
CO2 emissions by 20 percent over
?ve years at our re?ned edible
oils facilities in the Netherlands.
The award is presented by
Connekt Sustainable Logistics,
a program supported by the
Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure
and Environment.
Our Friona, Texas, beef
plant, which sits atop the
huge but stressed Ogallala
Aquifer, received the Texas
Water Foundation’s Blue
Legacy Award for water conservation,
having cut its water use by nearly a
quarter over six years.
-25%
84/100
Our score on climate change
disclosure evaluation
Cargill was recognized in 2014 by CDP,
formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project,
as the leader in the agricultural sector
for activities tackling deforestation, a
refection of our work in palm oil and soy
supply chains.
Renewable sources in energy portfolio
14.1%
Cargill 2015 Annual Report | 11
Cargill recently led a Learning Journey to Africa, home to some of the fastest-growing
economies and as much as 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, yet
a region where one-ffth of the population remains undernourished. Representing
business, academia, development agencies and the nonproft sector, the 25 travelers
saw the potential and the challenges in building value chains across South Africa and
Zambia. As they met people from farm to fork, they discussed current stresses on
the system and potential long-term solutions. Here, four of the participants continue
the conversation.
Take a Learning Journey
Today’s world is too complex for any one company to answer the ques-
tion of how we will feed a growing population. For a more collaborative
approach, Cargill is convening emerging leaders from global organiza-
tions to explore regional food systems frsthand and spark fresh thinking.
What issues have stuck with you the most since
returning from Africa?
Danielle Nierenberg: I keep thinking about the im-
portance of farmers being at the forefront of research
and development, and having a voice in decision-
making. Stronger farmers’ groups and cooperatives
are crucial to helping farmers increase yields, protect
the environment and raise their incomes.
Mercy Chen: I was surprised to see the lack of
proftability of the microfnance programs and other
efforts on the ground in Zambia. It calls into ques-
tion whether these endeavors will be sustainable in
the long term or even in the short term, regardless of
whether it is benefting the farmers.
Ashish Gupta: Like Mercy, I was surprised that
despite a very high level of repayment by the farmers
and high interest rates, these institutions are not
currently proftable. We saw quite a few projects
being run or funded by organizations with the goal of
uplifting farmers. But while these are laudable efforts,
I’m not sure they are scalable in a way that will solve
food security challenges. One missing ingredi-
ent seems to be a high-level synergy between the
private players on one hand and the local govern-
ment and village chiefs on the other, to decide on a
blueprint for transformation that will move forward in
a timely manner.
Bill Burke: I don’t think that environmental, social
and economic sustainability need be at odds. But
a whole host of factors come into play on any one
issue. Fertilizers are a good example. Much of the
soil in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly vulnerable
to rapid degradation – it’s just a fact of nature, not
anyone’s fault. So proper soil management (replac-
ing nutrients while avoiding over-fertilization) is more
pressing there than any other part of the developing
world. The typical government approach has been
to subsidize inputs. But this needs to be done in a
transparent way that encourages appropriate use.
1923
We bought an
asset that was
no commodity: a
state-of-the-art
teletype system.
It transmitted
messages almost
instantly, at
low cost, with
accuracy and
confdentiality.
“Sending a wire”
was Cargill’s trans-
mission system for
60+ years.
Fast-forward
to 2015 and our
Africa Learning
Journey. From
half-a-world
away, we provided
real-time updates,
including blog
posts, photo-
graphs and video,
all uploaded to
Cargill.com and
further shared
via Twitter
and LinkedIn.
12 | Cargill 2015 Annual Report
Bill Burke is an
agricultural econo-
mist and research
scholar at Stanford
University’s Center
on Food Security
and the Environment.
He lived in Zambia
for three years and
returns regularly to
conduct research.
Mercy Chen is a
trader for Cargill
based in Shanghai,
China, specializing
in cash and
futures markets for
vegetable oils.
Ashish Gupta
works for Unilever
as procurement
manager in fats and
oils for geographies
in Africa, the Middle
East and Eastern
Europe. He is based
in Dubai.
Danielle Nierenberg
is the founder and
president of Food
Tank. She has written
extensively on sus-
tainable agriculture,
gender and popula-
tion, and farming in
the developing world.
In what other ways were you challenged,
encouraged or surprised by what you saw and
discussed on the trip?
Ashish: I knew beforehand that landownership and
fragmentation of land are major challenges to agri-
cultural productivity in Africa. However, our series of
discussions with farmers and women’s groups made
me understand the intricate details and complexities
of this issue. For me, there were two “aha!” moments
that came out of these discussions: frst, that village
chiefs play a very infuential role in the allocation of
land for agriculture and thus need to be an integral
part of any initiatives in this area; and second, in
markets like Zambia, smallholder farming is the real-
ity for a very large segment of agriculture, and hence
we need to think of solutions within the framework of
farms smaller than 10 hectares.
Mercy: Storage capacity is one of the biggest chal-
lenges for farmers in Africa. Lack of storage can
force them to sell below a price they could get at a
time other than harvest. And there are serious waste
issues that result. When we saw that farmers are
now getting access from one supplier to hermetically
sealed storage bags in Chipata, I was very happy
to see someone trying to give them more options
and prevent loss. This isn’t necessarily the most
advanced technology, but it provides a practical
solution to the local market.
Danielle: One of the reasons I went on this trip is
to do what I say should happen in the food system—
we need to break down silos and get more people,
including farmers, nutritionists, policymakers,
nonprofts and businesses, talking to one another.
I know that organizations like mine need to stop
demonizing corporations and realize that because of
their tremendous power and money, we need to be
talking to them. I am not saying that we’ll necessarily
agree, but we need to be talking—and I think it was
good for Cargill and other companies who were on
the trip to understand that nonprofts are not out to
get them. We want many of the same things: a world
where everyone is well-nourished and can have a
healthy, sustainable life.
Looking at the group as a whole, what do you
think were the most interesting debates during
the week? What underlying issues around
food systems do you think those debates
pointed toward?
Danielle: I actually thought there would be more
disagreement. I think we all came with different
viewpoints, but we may have been too polite. I wish
we could have hashed out some issues like whether
encouraging farmers to focus on commodity crops
and expensive inputs is the way forward for food
production. Why are we forcing small-scale farm-
ers to compete in a global marketplace against big
farmers? Why isn’t there more focus from companies
on creating regional food systems that emphasize
local resources and production of inputs, which will
likely be more resilient over the long run as global
population grows and the impacts of climate change
become more evident?
Mercy: I think there is an issue of self-suffciency
versus international competitiveness. A lot of dis-
cussion focuses on the possibility of making Africa
self-suffcient, but if the continent is not competitive
against other markets, it will be hard for them to sus-
tain this in the long run. Strong governance will be
needed to improve the effciency of the entire food
supply chain, including building the infrastructure to
connect local farmers and smallholders to markets,
and strengthening education to empower the next
generation of young farmers.
Bill: Another vigorous conversation on the trip was
around genetically modifed organisms, which are
grown in South Africa but not Zambia. GMOs feed
more people, and fortifed GMOs provide more nutri-
tious foods. Yet here, as in other areas, knowledge
gaps remain, and good and honest people can and
do debate the merits of GMOs. To paraphrase a
colleague, if you ask people what they think about
GMOs on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being an environ-
mental catastrophe and 10 being able to feed every-
one in the world, it seems like everybody is either a 1
or a 10. But based on my instinct, it’s probably closer
to a 4 or a 6. To me, that’s the space where we need
to be having these discussions.
As we think about the larger implications for
providing enough food for more than 9 billion
people globally by mid-century, what learning
should Cargill take away from this trip?
Ashish: There clearly are a great variety of organiza-
tions involved in helping improve farmer livelihoods
and hence food security overall. While we saw small
pockets of good success stories, for this to make
a signifcant difference in the larger food security
equation, I believe a few things have to change.
There needs to be greater collaboration among all
of the players working on various parts of the value
chain in order for them to succeed. The focus should
be on addressing the major issues through a coor-
dinated strategy that can be brought to scale, rather
than creating a few examples of success. And the
African people need to be at the center of owning
and driving these programs. I really believe that the
next two decades will be Africa’s time, and Africa will
overcome these challenges.
Bill: While Africa’s agrarian communities face many
constraints, it’s not for lack of determined and hard-
working individuals. The sooner that donors, gov-
ernments and businesses not only realize this, but
embrace it, the better off we’ll all be. Africa needn’t
be a charity case. The proper inputs, research, train-
ing and institutional support can make this a reality.
That’s not to say that African agriculture should look
like American, Asian or European agriculture – it
almost certainly should not – but a mature African
agricultural sector will be far more capable of feed-
ing the continent than most people realize.
Find more stories, photos and videos from the
Africa Learning Journey at: www.cargill.com/
learning-journey/africa
www.cargill.com
P.O. Box 9300
Minneapolis, MN 55440
© 2015 Cargill,
Incorporated.
Printed in U.S.A.
CCA-111A-15
Cargill is committed to operating responsibly as we pursue our purpose to be
the global leader in nourishing people. Our 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report
is available online at www.cargill.com.
Cargill provides food, agriculture, fnancial and industrial products and services to the
world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people
thrive by applying our insights and 150 years of experience. We have 153,000 employees
in 67 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing
environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work. For more
information, visit www.cargill.com and our News Center.
To learn more about Cargill’s ?rst 150 years, visit www.cargill.com/150
150 years
of helping the
world thrive
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