| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NYSE: ADM S&P 500 Component |
| Industry | Agribusiness Food processing |
| Founded | Minneapolis, Minnesota (1902) |
| Headquarters | Decatur, Illinois, U.S. |
| Key people | Patricia Woertz (Chairman and CEO) |
| Products | Foods Beverages Feed Ethanol Bioenergy |
| Revenue | US$ 80.676 billion (FY 2011)[1] |
| Operating income | US$ 4.021 billion (FY 2011)[1] |
| Net income | US$ 2.036 billion (FY 2011)[1] |
| Total assets | US$ 42.193 billion (FY 2011)[1] |
| Total equity | US$ 18.838 billion (FY 2011)[1] |
| Employees | 30,000 (Yr 2011)[1] |
| Website | ADM.com |
The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) (NYSE: ADM) is a Fortune 500 conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois.[2][3][4] ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.
ADM was named the world's most admired food production company by Fortune magazine for 3 consecutive years; 2009, 2010, 2011.
ADM also provides agricultural storage and transportation services. The American River Transportation Company along with ADM Trucking, Inc are subsidiaries of ADM. ADM's revenues for fiscal year 2011 were US $81 billion.[1]
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Products include oils and meal from soybeans, cottonseed, sunflower seeds, canola, peanuts, flaxseed, and Diacylglycerol (DAG) oil, as well as corn germ, corn gluten feed pellets, syrup, starch, glucose, dextrose, crystalline dextrose, High fructose corn syrup sweeteners, cocoa liquor, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, chocolate, ethanol, and wheat flour. End uses are consumption by people, livestock, and fuel additives.
Long known as a food and ingredients company, ADM recently invested in fuel production. ADM nearly doubled capital spending in its 2007 budget to an estimated $1.12 billion. The increase is planned for bioenergy projects, focusing on bioethanol and biodiesel.[5]
In 1902, George A. Archer and John W. Daniels began a linseed crushing business. In 1923, Archer-Daniels Linseed Company acquired Midland Linseed Products Company, and the Archer Daniels Midland Company was formed. Every decade since its corporate inception, ADM has added at least one major profit source to its agribusiness: milling, processing, specialty food ingredients, cocoa, nutrition, and more.
In 1971 Dwayne Andreas became Chief Executive Officer of ADM, and is credited with transforming the firm into an industrial powerhouse. Andreas remained CEO until 1997. He was one of the most prominent political campaign donors[6] in the United States, having contributed millions of dollars to Democratic and Republican candidates alike.
In September 1999, executive Marty Andreas announced, under pressure from the European agricultural industry, they were going to separate crops into genetically modified and non-genetically modified groups to give their customers a choice. Previously the company had not disclosed their crop sources.
In 2001, Paul B. Mulhollem became the President of ADM. The Archer Daniels Midland Company made history by becoming the first U.S. company to sign a contract with Cuba since the embargo against Cuba was imposed October 1960.
In May 2006, Patricia A. Woertz became CEO. Formerly of Chevron, she is expected to focus on developing ethanol and biofuels. In February 2007 Ms. Woertz was elected Chairman of the Board at ADM.
On 22 August 2011, Archer Daniels Midland announced that the soybean processing facility in Galesburg, Illinois was closing immediately, and its operations would be transferred to other ADM oilseeds facilities. The facility has been idle since April 2011. Some of the 31 employees will be offered the opportunity to transfer to other ADM facilities.[7]
In 1993, ADM was the subject of a lysine price fixing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Senior ADM executives were indicted on criminal charges for engaging in price-fixing within the international lysine market. Three of ADM's top officials, including vice chairman Michael Andreas were eventually sentenced to federal prison in 1999. Moreover, in 1997, the company was fined $100 million, the largest antitrust fine in U.S. history at the time.[8] Mark Whitacre, FBI informant and whistleblower of the Lysine price-fixing conspiracy would also find himself in legal trouble for embezzling money from ADM during his time as an informant for the FBI. In addition, according to ADM's 2005 annual report a settlement was reached under which ADM paid $400 million in 2005 to settle a class action antitrust suit.[9]
Using the investigation as an example, Ronald W. Cotterill of the Food Marketing Policy Center at the University of Connecticut shows that 100 percent or more of overcharges resulting from price fixing are passed through to consumers.[10]
The Informant is a nonfiction thriller book written by journalist Kurt Eichenwald and published in 2000 by Random House[11] that documents the mid-1990s lysine price-fixing conspiracy case and the involvement of Archer Daniels Midland executive Mark Whitacre. A 2009 movie adaptation of the book stars Matt Damon as Mark Whitacre.
Archer Daniels Midland has been the subject of several major federal lawsuits related to air pollution. In 2001 the company agreed to pay a $1.46 million fine for violating federal and Illinois clean-air regulations at its Decatur feed plant and to spend $1.6 million to reduce air pollution there.[12] In 2003, ADM settled federal air pollution complaints related to the company's efforts to avoid New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act that require pollution control upgrades when a plant is modernized. The company paid $4.5 million in penalties and more than $6 million to support environmental projects. In addition, ADM agreed to eliminate more than 60,000 tons of emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, organic volatile chemicals and other pollutants from 42 plants in 17 states at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.[13]
Archer Daniels Midland Company is involved in a joint project with Daimler AG and Bayer CropScience to develop jatropha as a biofuel.[14]
In an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, ADM has teamed up with the Midwest Geological Sequestration Association and other organizations to test the disposal of carbon dioxide emissions underground. If testing is successful, beginning in late 2010 ADM expects to dispose of 1,000 metric tons per day of carbon dioxide emissions currently being released to the atmosphere.[15]
ADM is a major purchaser and trader of agricultural commodities grown in former rainforests
ADM lobbies for agricultural subsidies and price supports including sugar and ethanol. According to a 1995 report by the Cato Institute, "ADM has cost 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 bioethanol operation costs taxpayers $30."[16]