4 ms·

They are a private company, so no stock drama only some family drama. They are out of Minnesota and most people ignore that as a corporate center. Most of wha

They are a private company, so no stock drama only some family drama. They are out of Minnesota and most people ignore that as a corporate center. Most of what they do isn't under the name Cargill. They actually resemble an old conglomerate more than a focused company. Heck, most employees don't know what all they do, and you really don't interact with that many other divisions. Also, realistically and in comparison to other companies, you really have to stretch to call them public enemy one. There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets.

gruez 6y ago
>Also, realistically and in comparison to other companies, you really have to stretch to call them public enemy one. There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets. You can make the same argument for monsanto, but they get a lot of public flak.
- protomyth 6y ago
  Monsanto is a bit more "in your face" than Cargill. In fact, Cargill lost a seed lawsuit that had some deep effects. How they write about it is interesting https://www.cargill.com/history-story/en/SEED-SALE-AND-INTEGRITY.jsp https://www.cargill.com/history-story/en/SEED-SALE-AND-INTEG...
  - bovermyer 6y ago
    Except Cargill now owns what used to be Monsanto.
    - dragonwriter 6y ago
      > Except Cargill now owns what used to be Monsanto. No it doesn't, Bayer owns what used to be Monsanto. https://www.bayer.com/en/procurement/monsanto-acquisition https://www.bayer.com/en/procurement/monsanto-acquisition
      - bovermyer 6y ago
        My mistake.
shaftway 6y ago
> There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. Cargill is the second largest producer of beef in the US and among their numerous issues are deaths due to E Coli. Not to mention their rampant chemical dumping. If you are a US citizen you are more likely to be killed by Cargill than by most of the big tech companies (I said "most" instead of "all" because I think the jury is still out on Amazon).
- protomyth 6y ago
  There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. If you are a US citizen you are more likely to be killed by Cargill than by most of the big tech companies (I said "most" instead of "all" because I think the jury is still out on Amazon). A bit of a difference between those statements. I'm growing less and less fond of HN's tendency to push people to the thin ice. I do believe that the average person has a higher chance of being impacted by any of the big techs causing pain, then getting sick from something at a Cargill plant. Cargill isn't a delta away from the problems other companies experience. Heck, salad companies seem to be the biggest offender. I was never worried about beef. Turkey on the other hand seemed to show up a lot in the news. Not to mention their rampant chemical dumping. When I think rampant chemical dumping, I think of 3M poisoning the ground in various places. There was a real case of politicians letting a company off.
  - cowmoo728 6y ago
    Not from food-borne illness but from diabetes and heart disease. imo Cargill's role via extensive lobbying in causing an epidemic of heart disease can't be overstated.
  - shaftway 6y ago
    I'll admit it's not exactly a straightforward comparison. And it's on each of us to weigh the costs and likelihood of becoming ill versus big tech causing pain. I have my weighting, you have yours. On my scale, between their various meats, the pollutants they use, and the various spills (plenty listed in the article and online) I'd come down harder on Cargill than tech.
danbolt 6y ago
> There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. I think that’s a bit odd to say, given another top-level comment noted that COVID-19 outbreaks have happened to TFWs in various meatpacking plants. Otherwise, I agree with you. They’re not very “cool” as far as a company goes, so they’re not as easy to pay attention to.
- protomyth 6y ago
  I think that’s a bit odd to say, given another top-level comment noted that COVID-19 outbreaks have happened to TFWs in various meatpacking plants. Not really, the overall impact wasn't as high as some folks like to think. All sorts of places and events had outbreaks including other food producers. For most, its background noise.
bane 6y ago
> There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets. Do you live in the U.S. and ate food today? Chances are Cargill had something to do with it somewhere in the production chain. Yes, they are that big.
- protomyth 6y ago
  I'm aware, but they aren't the biggest player in the game. Food in the US is actually pretty safe, and there are a lot of things statistically more dangerous to people in daily lives.
laksdjfkasljdf 6y ago
>Most of what they do isn't under the name Cargill. They actually resemble an old conglomerate > There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life [...]. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets. Cargill actually owns most of the players on the other markets. Just recently, the Amazon fires benefited a Cargill branch so much, some think it was all a ploy to plant more soy. Even Nestle (another borderline unethical company, e.g. water rights) announced they will stop buying from Cargill Brazil because of that one. Yet, nobody in south America knows the name Cargill.

gruez 6y ago

>Also, realistically and in comparison to other companies, you really have to stretch to call them public enemy one. There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets. You can make the same argument for monsanto, but they get a lot of public flak.

protomyth 6y ago
Monsanto is a bit more "in your face" than Cargill. In fact, Cargill lost a seed lawsuit that had some deep effects. How they write about it is interesting https://www.cargill.com/history-story/en/SEED-SALE-AND-INTEGRITY.jsp https://www.cargill.com/history-story/en/SEED-SALE-AND-INTEG...
- bovermyer 6y ago
  Except Cargill now owns what used to be Monsanto.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > Except Cargill now owns what used to be Monsanto. No it doesn't, Bayer owns what used to be Monsanto. https://www.bayer.com/en/procurement/monsanto-acquisition https://www.bayer.com/en/procurement/monsanto-acquisition
    - bovermyer 6y ago
      My mistake.

shaftway 6y ago

> There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. Cargill is the second largest producer of beef in the US and among their numerous issues are deaths due to E Coli. Not to mention their rampant chemical dumping. If you are a US citizen you are more likely to be killed by Cargill than by most of the big tech companies (I said "most" instead of "all" because I think the jury is still out on Amazon).

protomyth 6y ago
There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. If you are a US citizen you are more likely to be killed by Cargill than by most of the big tech companies (I said "most" instead of "all" because I think the jury is still out on Amazon). A bit of a difference between those statements. I'm growing less and less fond of HN's tendency to push people to the thin ice. I do believe that the average person has a higher chance of being impacted by any of the big techs causing pain, then getting sick from something at a Cargill plant. Cargill isn't a delta away from the problems other companies experience. Heck, salad companies seem to be the biggest offender. I was never worried about beef. Turkey on the other hand seemed to show up a lot in the news. Not to mention their rampant chemical dumping. When I think rampant chemical dumping, I think of 3M poisoning the ground in various places. There was a real case of politicians letting a company off.
- cowmoo728 6y ago
  Not from food-borne illness but from diabetes and heart disease. imo Cargill's role via extensive lobbying in causing an epidemic of heart disease can't be overstated.
- shaftway 6y ago
  I'll admit it's not exactly a straightforward comparison. And it's on each of us to weigh the costs and likelihood of becoming ill versus big tech causing pain. I have my weighting, you have yours. On my scale, between their various meats, the pollutants they use, and the various spills (plenty listed in the article and online) I'd come down harder on Cargill than tech.

danbolt 6y ago

> There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. I think that’s a bit odd to say, given another top-level comment noted that COVID-19 outbreaks have happened to TFWs in various meatpacking plants. Otherwise, I agree with you. They’re not very “cool” as far as a company goes, so they’re not as easy to pay attention to.

protomyth 6y ago
I think that’s a bit odd to say, given another top-level comment noted that COVID-19 outbreaks have happened to TFWs in various meatpacking plants. Not really, the overall impact wasn't as high as some folks like to think. All sorts of places and events had outbreaks including other food producers. For most, its background noise.

bane 6y ago

> There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life like one of the big tech companies. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets. Do you live in the U.S. and ate food today? Chances are Cargill had something to do with it somewhere in the production chain. Yes, they are that big.

protomyth 6y ago
I'm aware, but they aren't the biggest player in the game. Food in the US is actually pretty safe, and there are a lot of things statistically more dangerous to people in daily lives.

laksdjfkasljdf 6y ago

>Most of what they do isn't under the name Cargill. They actually resemble an old conglomerate > There is really no danger of Cargill impacting your life [...]. There are other strong players in everyone of their markets. Cargill actually owns most of the players on the other markets. Just recently, the Amazon fires benefited a Cargill branch so much, some think it was all a ploy to plant more soy. Even Nestle (another borderline unethical company, e.g. water rights) announced they will stop buying from Cargill Brazil because of that one. Yet, nobody in south America knows the name Cargill.