Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/tag/adm/)
Arrest warrants have been issued for a Nicaraguan grains business owner and his daughter after the pair failed to pay $2.5 million to Archer Daniels Midland for import contracts. The Nicaraguan grains business allegedly failed to pay millions of dollars to Chicago-based agriculture superpower ADM for rice imports, according to Reuters.
The Corn Refiners Association is gearing up to take on the sugar industry. According to a June 24 Washington Post exclusive, the Corn Refiners Association plans on investing in a lobbying effort to take apart decades-old sugar subsidies and tax breaks. The Washington Post reported that the association recently hired 10 outside lobbyists.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it would take significant steps toward eliminating trans fats in American food within the next three years. The move will likely change the way major food producers make popular foods, including some coffee creamers, frozen pizzas, refrigerated dough products and fast food. According to experts, this production change will be largely propelled by an increase in the demand for palm oil, a substitute made from certain tropical trees.
Powerful agribusiness companies that regularly net billions in profits are major recipients of state and federal tax breaks, subsidies, grants and loans. Just seven of those companies have pocketed billions since 2000, according to government subsidy data from Good Jobs First. Tax experts say the companies get that money, at least in part, because of political muscle.
Tens of millions of people live off of government welfare in the United States. Some say that giant agriculture corporations do, too. An analysis of data attained by the policy research organization Good Jobs First shows that just seven agribusinesses have received billions of dollars in state and federal grants, subsidies, loans and tax breaks throughout the past few decades. Critics call this vast pool of government funds "corporate welfare."
The U.S. and Russia are two of the world’s top grain-producing countries and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Russia will provide 22 percent of the world’s grain exports by 2021. But how, exactly, do farmers in each of these countries provide food for the masses? We visited two areas to find out - The Rostov region, one of Russia’s largest grain and oilseed producers, and Central Illinois, home to one of the largest grain and oilseed production companies in the world.