Cary G Dean.
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This article appeared as part of a feature in the December 8, 1995 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
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by Richard Freeman
Secret intelligence
The manner in which the grain cartel companies operate is highly secretive.
All but ADM-Topfer are private companies, and Bush ally and former Cargill employee Dwayne Andreas runs ADM as his personal fiefdom.
A strategic profile of each of the leading food cartel companies is contained in the following article, but it is worth noting here a few critical points about how they work.
Much of their workings is shrouded in mystery, because they release little information to the public.
People who have attempted to write books about the grain companies have spent years without getting a single interview from any of the reigning grain company families.
Unlike many American companies, where the founding family has long since departed the scene, such as in the case of Morgan bank or Chrysler Corp., the grain cartel companies are run by the same families that have run them for centuries.
The inter-married MacMillan and Cargill families run Cargill;
The Fribourg family runs Continental;
The Louis Dreyfus family runs Louis Dreyfus;
The Andre family runs Andre;
And the Hirsch and Born families run Bunge and Born.
Much of their workings is shrouded in mystery, because they release little information to the public.
People who have attempted to write books about the grain companies have spent years without getting a single interview from any of the reigning grain company families.
Unlike many American companies, where the founding family has long since departed the scene, such as in the case of Morgan bank or Chrysler Corp., the grain cartel companies are run by the same families that have run them for centuries.
The inter-married MacMillan and Cargill families run Cargill;
The Fribourg family runs Continental;
The Louis Dreyfus family runs Louis Dreyfus;
The Andre family runs Andre;
And the Hirsch and Born families run Bunge and Born.
However, the little that has been gleaned is very revealing.
In 1979, Dan Morgan wrote The Merchants of Grain, about the world grain trade.
He disclosed that Cargill's Geneva-based trading arm, Tradax, operates not only such as to park sales of grain in order to escape taxes in the United States and most countries, but it confounds anyone trying to follow Cargill's grain movements.
In his book, Morgan reported:
In 1979, Dan Morgan wrote The Merchants of Grain, about the world grain trade.
He disclosed that Cargill's Geneva-based trading arm, Tradax, operates not only such as to park sales of grain in order to escape taxes in the United States and most countries, but it confounds anyone trying to follow Cargill's grain movements.
In his book, Morgan reported:
"When Cargill sells a cargo of corn to a Dutch animal-feed manufacturer, the grain is shipped down the Mississippi River, put aboard a vessel at Baton Rouge and sent to Rotterdam.
On paper, however ... its route is more elaborate.
Cargill first sells the corn to Tradax International in Panama, which will 'hire' Tradax/Geneva as its agent; Tradax/Geneva then might arrange the sale to a Dutch miller through its subsidiary, Tradax/Holland; any profits would be booked to Tradax/Panama, a tax-haven company, and Tradax/Geneva would earn only a 'management fee' for brokering the deal between Tradax/Panama and Tradax/Holland."
On paper, however ... its route is more elaborate.
Cargill first sells the corn to Tradax International in Panama, which will 'hire' Tradax/Geneva as its agent; Tradax/Geneva then might arrange the sale to a Dutch miller through its subsidiary, Tradax/Holland; any profits would be booked to Tradax/Panama, a tax-haven company, and Tradax/Geneva would earn only a 'management fee' for brokering the deal between Tradax/Panama and Tradax/Holland."
While evading taxes and inspection, Cargill also uses its network to move large shipments of goods anywhere on the globe, on split-second notice.
It has an in-house intelligence service that matches the CIA's:
It uses global communication satellites, weather-sensing satellites, a database that utilizes 7,000 primary sources of intelligence, several hundred field offices, etc.
It has an in-house intelligence service that matches the CIA's:
It uses global communication satellites, weather-sensing satellites, a database that utilizes 7,000 primary sources of intelligence, several hundred field offices, etc.
Cargill is representative of all of the grain companies, and a brief examination of it gives insight into all the others.
Cargill, which had $51 billion in annual sales in 1994, has a dominant position in many aspects of the world food trade.
It is the world's and the United States' number-one grain exporter, and has a market share of 25-30% in each of several commodities.
It is the world's number-one cotton trader; the number-one U.S. owner of grain elevators (340); the number-one U.S. manufacturer of corn-based, high-protein animal feeds (through subsidiary Nutrena Mills); the number-two U.S. wet corn miller and U.S. soybean crusher; the number-two Argentine grain exporter (10% of market); the number-three U.S. flour miller (18% of market), U.S. meatpacker (18% of market), U.S. pork packer/slaughterer, and U.S. commercial animal feeder; the number-three French grain exporter (15-18% of the market); and the number-six U.S. turkey producer.
It also has a fleet of 420 barges, 11 towboats, 2 huge vessels that sail the Great Lakes, 12 ocean-going ships, 2,000 railroad hopper cars, and 2,000 tank cars.
Cargill, which had $51 billion in annual sales in 1994, has a dominant position in many aspects of the world food trade.
It is the world's and the United States' number-one grain exporter, and has a market share of 25-30% in each of several commodities.
It is the world's number-one cotton trader; the number-one U.S. owner of grain elevators (340); the number-one U.S. manufacturer of corn-based, high-protein animal feeds (through subsidiary Nutrena Mills); the number-two U.S. wet corn miller and U.S. soybean crusher; the number-two Argentine grain exporter (10% of market); the number-three U.S. flour miller (18% of market), U.S. meatpacker (18% of market), U.S. pork packer/slaughterer, and U.S. commercial animal feeder; the number-three French grain exporter (15-18% of the market); and the number-six U.S. turkey producer.
It also has a fleet of 420 barges, 11 towboats, 2 huge vessels that sail the Great Lakes, 12 ocean-going ships, 2,000 railroad hopper cars, and 2,000 tank cars.
Cargill has been able to place its people in top posts around the world.
Daniel Amstutz, a 25-year Cargill man, was U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs in 1983-87, from which post he decided on the export policy of U.S. grains.
He later became a leader of the U.S. trade commission in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations on agricultural trade.
Meanwhile, the head of Bunge and Born, Nestor Rapanelli, became Argentina's economics minister within weeks of Carlos Menem coming in as Argentine President in 1989.
Rapanelli began shifting Argentina from "State intervention to a 'market driven' economy."
Daniel Amstutz, a 25-year Cargill man, was U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs in 1983-87, from which post he decided on the export policy of U.S. grains.
He later became a leader of the U.S. trade commission in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations on agricultural trade.
Meanwhile, the head of Bunge and Born, Nestor Rapanelli, became Argentina's economics minister within weeks of Carlos Menem coming in as Argentine President in 1989.
Rapanelli began shifting Argentina from "State intervention to a 'market driven' economy."
Today, Cargill Company is privately owned and run by the MacMillan family.
The MacMillan family's collective wealth, at $5.1 billion, according to the July 17, 1994 Forbes magazine, is larger than that of the better-known Mellon family.
The MacMillans have always been of service to the British.
John Hugh MacMillan, president of Cargill from 1936 to 1957, and then chairman from 1957 through 1960, held the title of "hereditary Knight Commander of Justice in the Sovereign Order of St. John (Knights of Malta)," one of the British Crown's most important orders.
Don't you all just get a warm fuzzy feeling inside Being Shafted by
( The Super Elite )
The MacMillan family's collective wealth, at $5.1 billion, according to the July 17, 1994 Forbes magazine, is larger than that of the better-known Mellon family.
The MacMillans have always been of service to the British.
John Hugh MacMillan, president of Cargill from 1936 to 1957, and then chairman from 1957 through 1960, held the title of "hereditary Knight Commander of Justice in the Sovereign Order of St. John (Knights of Malta)," one of the British Crown's most important orders.
Don't you all just get a warm fuzzy feeling inside Being Shafted by
( The Super Elite )
About the Author:
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Richard Freeman
Richard Freeman
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