USA– Cargill has released its 2019 annual report highlighting its recent efforts to drive the company’s operations towards sustainability.
The company set a goal of training 10 million farmers in sustainable agriculture practices by 2030, and updated that more than 2.3 million have successfully been trained since 2017.
Cargill is also working toward transitioning its agriculture supply chains to be deforestation-free, backed by a partnership with The Soil Health Institute in North America.
The company said it also “managed a slight increase in our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to changes in our product mix and an increasing share of more energy intensive products; continued to work toward our goal of reducing emissions by 10% against a 2017 baseline by 2025’
“(Cargill) reduced the CO2 per cargo-ton-mile of our time-chartered ocean shipping fleet by 12.1% against a 2016 baseline, with the target of reaching 15% by 2020.”
The company mapped the farms of 110,000 cocoa farmers globally, representing 48% of its direct supply chain.
The report also notes that the multinational maintained 100% traceability to the mill in all key palm oil destination markets and continued work toward a 100% traceable, transparent and sustainable palm oil supply chain with 92% of volumes traceable to the mill and 42% traceable to the plantation
In addition, the company have new policies in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including a strengthened human rights commitment and global forest policy.
“This year, we published a new human rights commitment that respects and upholds the rights of workers, indigenous peoples and communities everywhere we operate,” Cargill said.
The report revealed that Cargill is focusing on investing in global protein, specialty ingredients, health and nutrition products, bio-industrials and digital products and services to accelerate its growth.
Cargill highlighted that it is also targeting the fast-growing economies of Asia Pacific with strategic investments, where populations are growing and diets are shifting.
As part of its growth strategy in China, the company opened a new addition poultry facilities in Anhui province to increases capacity for cooked chicken products while in Jiangxi province Cargill has commenced the construction of a flagship facility for producing premixes and specialty feeds for young animal nutrition.
For more sustainable soy production, Cargill committed US$30m in South America for preserving forest landscapes and natural vegetation, while still allowing for rural economic development.
David MacLennan, chairman and CEO at Cargill, said, “We are directing our insights, capabilities and resources toward answering some of the world’s biggest questions. Everyone at Cargill is relentlessly determined to transform what is possible in food, agriculture and nutrition.”
Cargill posted US$113.5 billion in revenue in its year ending May 2019 and invested US$2.81billion in acquisitions, joint ventures and new and existing facilities.
The US$2.82bn in adjusted operating earnings was a 12% decrease from year 2018, though total revenue only dropped 1%. Demand in the North American protein sector was a leading driver behind this year’s earnings.
