Cargill Reports on Global Corporate Responsibility Actions

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Cargill today released its 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report, highlighting the company's efforts in food safety, responsible supply chains, environmental innovation, rural development, workplace safety and community engagement. The report, entitled "Growing Together," is also available in an online version at www.cargill.com/corporate-responsibility-report-2010.

"Cargill's purpose is to be the global leader in nourishing people while creating distinctive value.  We cannot easily achieve either without a commitment to livable, sustainable communities," said Greg Page, Cargill chairman and chief executive officer.

The report showcases how Cargill collaborates with organizations around the world to improve nutrition and health, provide access to education, encourage responsible stewardship of natural resources, foster sustainable economic development and promote responsible business practices in its supply chains.

Among the Cargill activities highlighted in the report:

The company's approach to food safety and its commitment to safeguard the wholesomeness and integrity of its products, including:

• Conducting the first large-scale field trial involving the vaccination of cattle to explore this method for reducing E. coli O157:H7 bacteria; and
• Sharing food safety best practices across its operations, and with customers, suppliers and governments to enhance public health outcomes.

The company's work in responsible supply chains and sourcing, including:

• Co-founding in West Africa the UTZ Certified cocoa program to help produce cocoa more effectively and responsibly, and improve the incomes and livelihoods of the farmers who grow it;
• Partnering with The Nature Conservancy to provide on-the-ground support to farmers working toward compliance with the Brazilian Forest Code;
• Working to reduce deforestation of the Amazon; and
• Advancing efforts to achieve the sustainable production of palm oil around the world.

The company's focus on reducing its environmental impact, including:

• Using biogas to displace 20 to 25 percent of natural gas demand at its North American beef processing plants, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.3 million metric tons in the last four years; and
• Transforming Cargill's knowledge about improving energy efficiency at its own locations into a business called Cargill Process Optimizers, which helps customers significantly improve their yields, energy efficiency and water efficiency.

Cargill's work in rural communities to improve farmer productivity and enrich rural communities, including:

• Training more than 2.4 million Chinese farmers on animal nutrition, sanitation, genetics and farm management, and starting a water-saving irrigation improvement plan to help Chinese farmers conserve water and increase crop yields; and
• Providing training to smallholder farmers in Indonesia to help them grow palm more sustainably.

Cargill's efforts to provide safe, secure and healthy work environments, including:

• Achieving in fiscal 2010 its lowest frequency of work-related injuries in the 22 years it has gathered safety data globally.

The company's engagement in communities where it operates worldwide, including:

• Its five-year, $10 million partnership with CARE to help 100,000 people in rural areas around the world lift themselves out of poverty; and
• Combating hunger through a companywide "Nourishing People Challenge," launched on World Food Day, through which Cargill businesses and employees contributed more than $9.5 million for emergency hunger relief and long-term food security in 2009 and 2010.

About Cargill

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people in 66 countries. Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business. For more information, visit http://www.cargill.com.

SOURCE Cargill