USA – The American grain giant, Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) has announced that it will seek voluntary early retirements for some of its employees in North America as well as job cuts in a new restructuring strategy.

According to a Reuters report, the move is expected to strengthen the company’s core business and establish its leadership in global nutrition.

ADM is among other grain merchants battling with the impact of trade war between China and the United States, which has seen enactment of tariffs on critical agricultural commodities.

The sector is also affected by a global glut of crops, hurting operations of agricultural companies as a result of accelerated consolidation.

The company said the voluntary early retirements are among a range of actions it is taking between now and June 30 to improve productivity, growth and service to customers.

The company spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said ADM expects the number of workers whose jobs are eliminated to be a very small percentage of its global workforce, and those affected would be considered for other roles.

“One of these actions will be the opening of a voluntary early retirement window for certain eligible U.S. and Canadian colleagues,” said Anderson.

“Others include capturing planned synergies from our recent acquisitions and realigning our organization worldwide as we further streamline and standardize processes, implement new technologies, and eliminate overlap in roles and responsibilities.”

“Beyond the planned post-acquisition synergies, there may be some individual positions eliminated as part of the restructuring of specific areas of our organization.

“As much as possible, we will try to minimize individual impacts by finding suitable alternative opportunities within the company.”

Reports suggests that ADM is looking to pursue pursuing growth in its nutrition business through smaller acquisitions and potential joint ventures in agricultural processing and other areas.

The company last month said that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would trim its first-quarter operating profit by US$50 million to US$60 million.

The extreme weather reduced corn processing volumes principally due to a slowdown in rail and truck transportation, which affected both inbound and outbound shipments.