Super Eco

Photo credit: ceiling, flickr

Archer Daniels Midland, or ADM, makes a wide number of products from cereal and oil seeds that are used in food, animal feed, and as fuel additives. Major product lines include soybeans, cottonseed, sunflower seed, flax seed, canola, peanuts and a wide variety of corn derivatives, from dextrose and glucose to high fructose corn syrup and ethyl alcohol.

ADM was founded in 1902 by George A. Archer and John W. Daniels in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who together began a linseed crushing business. In 1923, Archer-Daniels Linseed Company acquired Midland Linseed Products Company, and the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company was formed. In 1929, the company began rapidly buying other businesses, including a soybean company and a flour milling company, and in the 1930's began manufacturing solvents and formula feeds. Among other innovations were isolated soy protein and textured vegetable protein (TVP); the company was quick to capitalize on whatever food processors most desired, including vegetable oil hydrogenation in 1967 and corn sweeteners in the 1970's. In 1978, the company began producing ethanol for synthetic fuels.

In 2001, the company began an advertising campaign, completed with new corporate logo and tag line ("supermarket to the world"), "designed to underscore the Company’s deep commitment to nature and global agriculture." Since May 2006, Patricia A. Woertz—formerly of Chevron—has been CEO, underscoring the company's new focus on biofuels.

Notable Eco Activity

No company embodies, simultaneously, both the promise of environmentalism, and its antithesis, than ADM. On one hand, the company was a pioneer in biofuels and has been working for decades to develop plant-based oils, including ethanol and, lately, cellulosic fuels. The company widely advertises its commitment to farmers. However, ADM is also a leader in creating unhealthy and cheap plant-based food additives and encouraging the monocultures that food policy experts agree are dangerous for the continued health of the soil on which they are grown, as well as the ecosystems around them.

Due to air pollution in its Decatur, Illinois feed plant, ADM agreed to pay a $1.46 million fine and was named the tenth-worst air polluter in the U.S. by the Earth Policy Institute. The worst criticism of ADM, however, is leveled toward its receipt of taxpayer dollars in agricultural subsidies, tariffs and trade barriers, and price supports, largely for corn sweeteners. In a 1995 report by the CATO Institute, ADM was accused of costing "the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same period. At least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30."

• Archer Daniels Midland Details

  • Year Founded

    1902

  • Founded By

    Unavailable

  • Green Products?

    Unavailable

  • Hazardous Products?

    Unavailable

  • Sector

    Unavailable

  • Industry

    Unavailable

  • Help Line

    800-637-5843

  • Help Address

    Unavailable

  • Fax Number

    Unavailable

  • Website

    http://www.adm.com/

  • Key Execs

    Unavailable

  • Competitors

    Unavailable

  
  

• Archer Daniels Midland Locations

  • Headquarters

    4666 Faries Parkway Decatur, IL 62526

  • Mail Address

    4666 Faries Parkway Decatur, IL 62526

  • Operates In

    United States, Germany, The Netherlands, Brazil

  • Manufacturing

    Unavailable

  
  

• Archer Daniels Midland Financial Information

  • Company Type

    C corporation

  • Yearly Revenue

    $69.8 billion

  • Traded On

    NYSE

  • Symbols

    ADM