GET THOSE BOYS OFF THE FARM! - Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America - page 14

Wallach notes, “A dramatic decline in farm income in developed and developing countries alike has
been the norm under the WTO, causing indebtedness and foreclosures in rich countries and loss of liveli-
hoods and hunger in poor countries.”
Regulatory Changes Affecting
Agriculture and Food Policy
As previously noted, Cargill is among the companies pushing for the policies that have caused so much
suffering. It is the largest privately held company in the United States and the largest grain trader in the
world. Although invisible to most consumers, it operates in every segment of the food industry. Most
Americans eat something that Cargill has produced every single day. The company also manufactures fer-
tilizer and feeds, provides loans to farmers and buys their crops, operates the grain terminals where farmers
eventually deliver their crops, and provides marketing advisory services to guide them through this entire
process.
Cargill has used its status as the world leader in the trading and processing of corn, wheat, soy, and
other oilseeds to employ the trade rules to gain a global reach in procuring commodities wherever they are
cheapest and selling them where they are most profitable. The company has played a significant role in
promoting genetically engineered crops. Since it operates the grain elevators, it can choose which types of
crops will be purchased and contract with farmers to grow specific varieties.
Cargill has been promoting trade policies for decades. In 1971, a Cargill vice chairman took a leave to
become President Nixon's deputy special representative for trade, enabling him to shape agricultural trade
policy during the decade that saw the opening of China to world markets and the Russian grain crisis. A
former president of Cargill Investor Services was the chief agricultural trade negotiator from 1987 to 1989
for the GATT, the agreement that ultimately created the WTO, in 1995.
Unsurprisingly, Cargill had a relationship with the Clinton administration, since they were in agreement
on trade rules and the deregulation of federal agriculture policy. Clinton appointed Ernest Micek, CEO of
Cargill at the time, to his export council and traveled with him to Africa on a mission to encourage free
trade.