Criticisms of Cargill facts for kids

Cargill Inc. is a huge company that works with food and farming all over the world. It's owned by the Cargill family and has been around for over 150 years! It's the biggest privately owned company in the United States. Cargill operates in 70 countries and makes a lot of money each year.

However, people and groups have raised concerns about Cargill. These concerns are about how the company affects the environment and how it treats people, especially in different industries and countries. Because Cargill is such a big and important company, many hope that if it makes changes to be more responsible, other similar businesses will follow its example.

Cargill is one of four major companies, sometimes called the "ABCD group," that handle a lot of the world's soybeans. They have invested a lot in places like the Brazilian Cerrado, which has become a huge area for growing soybeans. Groups like Greenpeace say that Cargill has contributed to cutting down parts of the Amazon rainforest.

There was also a lawsuit from 2005 about children being forced to work in the chocolate industry in Ivory Coast. Cargill has since invested money into programs to help stop child labor.

About Cargill

Cargill Inc. is a very large company owned by the Cargill family for five generations. It's a global leader in the food and agriculture business. The company has 160,000 employees in 70 countries and works with partners in over 125 countries. Its main office is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. For many years, it has been the largest privately owned company in the United States. In 2019, its yearly earnings were $113.5 billion.

Cargill is part of groups like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and the Soft Commodities Forum (SCF). These groups work to make sure that products like palm oil are made in a way that doesn't harm the environment or people.

People have been worried about Cargill's environmental impact in different places and industries since the early 2000s. The RSPO once said that if Cargill, which is a very important palm oil company in the U.S., took "bold action" to reduce its negative impacts, it could set a great example for other farming businesses worldwide.

Some have even called Cargill a "cartel" in a book from 2016.

Environmental Concerns

Palm Oil Operations and the Environment

Oil palms are used to make palm oil.

People have raised concerns about how Cargill's palm oil farms affect the environment in places like Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Groups like Friends of the Earth and the Rainforest Action Network have spoken out. Cargill says it has policies to produce palm oil in a way that is good for the environment.

In 2004, Cargill joined the RSPO, which sets rules for making palm oil sustainably. Companies that join are supposed to follow these rules. However, in 2010, RSPO investigations found that Cargill's palm oil operations didn't always match its promises.

In 2004, Cargill owned five oil palm farms in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It was the biggest U.S. buyer of palm oil, getting about 11% of all palm oil from Indonesia.

By 2006, many problems were reported at Cargill's palm oil farms, including issues with local communities. A newspaper article in 2006 said Cargill bought palm oil from companies that destroyed rainforests by burning them, which is against Indonesian law.

A 2007 report said that oil palm farms were causing tropical rainforests to be destroyed around the world. Indonesia had the highest rate of deforestation, losing about 20 square miles of rainforest every day. Palm oil is used in many products like food, makeup, and cleaning supplies. Growing oil palm on large farms can cause big problems for the environment and local people.

In 2008, it was reported that local communities lost their traditional forests and farms to Cargill's oil palm plantations. These communities often didn't get fair payment for their land. They also didn't freely agree to have their land turned into large farms.

By 2009, Cargill's five palm oil farms had cleared 83,000 hectares of lowland rainforests, causing a lot of deforestation. At one farm in Borneo, Cargill was clearing forests without doing an environmental check, which was required by Indonesian law.

A 2007 RSPO report mentioned that at Cargill's three palm oil farms in Papua New Guinea, local farmers were becoming like unpaid workers because of complicated debt plans. Cargill's own managers admitted they couldn't stop children from working on these farms.

In May 2010, the RSPO reported that at two Cargill palm oil farms in Indonesia, the company was burning and clearing rainforests. This caused problems with local communities and damaged peatlands.

Cargill started its palm oil operations in South Sumatra in the mid-1990s. By 2019, Cargill had many workers in Southeast Asia. In 2018, they started offering maternity benefits to encourage more women to work in jobs usually done by men.

Cargill's Port and Amazon Deforestation

By 2012, Cargill was one of the big companies that controlled over half of the soybean processing. They had invested a lot in storage and ports.

In 2003, Cargill finished building a port for soybeans in Santarém, Brazil, in the Amazon region. This port made it cheaper to transport soybeans and easier to process them. This encouraged more soybean farming in nearby forested areas. In late 2003, Greenpeace started protesting Cargill's new port. Even though Cargill followed state laws, it didn't follow a federal law that required an environmental impact study.

In 2006, a Brazilian court told Cargill to complete an environmental assessment. The local community had supported the port at first, hoping for new jobs, but opinions changed when the jobs didn't appear. In 2007, the Brazilian Environmental Agency shut down the port.

Greenpeace released a report in April 2006, saying Cargill played a role in cutting down the Amazon rainforest. The report also claimed that some soybean farms connected to Cargill had people working long hours without pay.

The report showed that animal feed made from Amazonian soy was used for chickens and other meat sold in Europe. Greenpeace convinced big food companies like McDonald's and UK stores to stop buying meat raised on Amazonian soy. These companies then pressured Cargill and others to prove their soy wasn't grown on newly deforested land.

In July 2006, Cargill, along with The Nature Conservancy and other soy businesses, signed the Soy Moratorium. This agreement meant they would not buy soybeans from newly deforested land for two years.

In 2010, Cargill submitted an environmental study for the port, and it was reopened in 2012.

By 2015, more new ports were being planned, leading to a lot more growth. In June 2019, Cargill admitted that the soy industry in Brazil would not reach its goal to "end deforestation" by 2020.

By July 2019, Brazil had become the world's biggest soybean exporter. New ports and facilities on the Amazon River made the soybean industry even more competitive.

Wastewater Pipeline Break in Australia

In June 2007, Cargill's operations in Australia were fined A$37,500. This was because a wastewater pipeline broke in January 2006. The wastewater flowed into a stormwater system and then into a wetland.

Building on Wetlands in California

Cargill has faced criticism for its plan to build a large housing development for up to 32,000 people on its privately owned salt ponds in Redwood City, California.

This land was originally marshland along San Francisco Bay. It became a place for making salt in 1901. Cargill bought the company that owned the salt ponds in 1978 and continued making salt.

In 2000, Cargill offered to sell the land to government agencies, but they couldn't afford it. However, 16,500 acres were bought from Cargill in 2003 through a mix of donation and sale. Later, courts said the land was valued too high.

Cargill then partnered with a home builder to propose a "50/50 Plan." This plan would build 12,000 houses and commercial spaces on about half of the 1,436-acre site. The other half would become wetlands, parks, and open spaces.

Newspapers and over 150 elected officials have said that the salt ponds are not a good place for housing. They are against the project.

A local environmental group called Save The Bay has criticized Cargill for trying to destroy bay wetlands. However, others say that Cargill's plan doesn't involve destroying wetlands, but rather building on land that is currently salt ponds and salt-making facilities.

In 2008, Redwood City voters rejected an effort to make it harder to develop the salt ponds.

Since then, many environmental, business, and community groups, led by Save The Bay, have continued to fight the proposed development. They believe the salt ponds should be restored as part of the nearby Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This is similar to the 16,500 acres Cargill sold in 2003, which are now part of a large wetland restoration project.

Acidic Wastewater Spill in Florida

In August 2004, officials warned Cargill Phosphate company in Florida that their protective wall was not strong enough. While repairs were being made, Hurricane Frances caused waves that broke through the wall. This led to 65 million gallons of acidic wastewater spilling into Tampa Bay on September 5, 2004. A company spokesperson called it one of the worst environmental disasters for Tampa Bay in years.

Eight years later, the company that took over Cargill Phosphate's plant started cleaning up and restoring the mangroves and wetlands that were badly damaged by the spill. In 2015, the EPA fined the company about $2 billion for not properly storing and disposing of waste from making acids used in fertilizers.

Human Rights Concerns

Children Forced to Work in Cocoa Industry

In July 2005, a lawsuit was filed against Cargill and other companies. It was brought by six people who said they were taken from their home country of Mali to Côte d'Ivoire. There, they were forced to work long hours every day in the chocolate industry, without pay, with little food, and often faced beatings. The lawsuit has been ongoing for many years.

In January 2020, Cargill and another company asked the Supreme Court of the United States to end the lawsuit. They were accused of helping forced labor by giving money to farmers in Ivory Coast, expecting cocoa prices to stay low. The lawsuit claimed the companies knew that children were being forced to work. The Supreme Court asked the U.S. government for advice on the case.

According to a 2019 article, Cargill is a major supplier of cocoa for the chocolate industry. Even though big chocolate companies promised in the early 2000s to stop using cocoa harvested by children, much chocolate today is still harvested this way. In December 2019, Cargill announced it would invest $7.7 million over three years in programs in Ivory Coast. These programs include a system to monitor and help stop child labor.

Concerns about Uzbek Cotton

Cargill operates in Uzbekistan, even though its representatives have said they are worried about the possible use of child labor in growing crops there. These concerns have been public since 2005. However, Cargill has not yet taken steps to investigate or fix any possible labor problems in its operations in Uzbekistan.

The Environmental Justice Foundation has named Cargill as a big buyer of cotton from Uzbekistan. This cotton is often produced using unpaid workers, and there are concerns about human rights abuses. Cargill says it doesn't know about any wrongdoing in these cases.

Employee Protests in Virginia

In February 2018, some employees at Cargill's plant in Dayton, Virginia, protested. They were upset about poor health benefits and bad working conditions. They also protested because they believed the company fired employees who tried to form a union. Nine people were arrested during these protests for being on the plant's property.

Contamination Issues

Mercury Poisoning in Iraq

In 1970, Cargill sold 63,000 tons of grain seeds to Basra, Iraq. These seeds were treated with a chemical called methylmercury, which was banned in many Western countries. The seeds were sprayed red to show they were dangerous and not for people or animals to eat. However, when the seeds arrived in Iraq, the government gave away the extra seeds. Many people ate them because the warnings were only in English and Spanish. This led to the deaths of 93 people.

Beef Recall in the USA (2007)

In October 2007, Cargill announced it was recalling almost 850,000 frozen beef patties. These patties were made at its plant in Butler, Wisconsin. They were thought to be contaminated with E. coli bacteria. The beef was mainly sold at Walmart and Sam's Club stores.

Cargill Australia Exports

In March 2009, Cargill Australia's license to export meat to Japan and the United States was temporarily stopped. This happened after E. coli was found in Cargill's export containers from its plant in Wagga Wagga. In late April 2009, the license was given back to Cargill Australia.

Price-Fixing Allegations

In 2021, several grocery stores and wholesalers sued Cargill and other meat companies. They claimed these companies worked together to unfairly raise the price of beef. In 2024, McDonald's Corporation also sued Cargill and the same companies for similar reasons, saying they fixed prices.

External resources

• Cargill's Legacy of Destruction palm oil video
• Cargill's Legacy of Destruction: A case study of a Cargill owned palm oil plantation in Indonesia
• Commodity Colonialism: A case study of Cargill's oil palm operations in Papua New Guinea
• Virtual Tour of the Saltworks Proposed Development in Redwood City, CA Youtube Channel