U.S. Food Products Company Quick to Help Communities in China

7 November 2008 By Kathryn McConnell Staff Writer

Cargill China's relief efforts, farmer training, conservation stand out

Washington — In May, one day after a devastating earthquake struck China's Sichuan province, Cargill China quickly mobilized a worldwide fundraising campaign among its businesses and employees to help people affected by the disaster.

By the end of June, the company, a subsidiary of the Minneapolis-based food and agriculture products company Cargill Inc., had collected more than $1.1 million. It donated some of the funds to the China Red Cross and to the International Red Cross for relief efforts and awarded a grant to Beijing Normal University to provide psychotherapy to children affected by the earthquake. It continues to support post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.

Earlier in 2008, during the worst snowstorm to hit China in more than 50 years, Cargill China was one of the first U.S. companies to offer disaster relief assistance, helping to rebuild schools and providing clothing for children affected by the disaster.

For its relief efforts and for promoting sustainable agriculture, food safety and environmental stewardship, as well as for establishing a network of employee-led volunteer Cargill Cares Councils, Cargill China has been named a finalist for the secretary of state's 2008 Award for Corporate Excellence.

“Cargill strives for world-class, good corporate citizenship in China,” Cargill President Norwell Coquillard said in a statement to America.gov.

“Cargill is in a unique position to contribute its global experience and expertise to helping China meet its goals of raising the incomes of its population and developing its countryside.

“By improving efficiency and adding value to the production, processing, distribution and trade of food and agricultural products in China, we aim to promote sustainable agriculture and a secure food supply for China,” the statement says.

Cargill has provided training to more than 2 million farmers in China in crop nutrition, animal breeding and feeding technologies to increase animal health and productivity.

In 2008, the company signed a cooperation agreement with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to establish a food safety management training program.

It has implemented in all of its 34 plants in China an internationally recognized production quality control system to minimize the entry of food-borne pathogens into the food supply during production and processing.

In 2007, Cargill began its Cargill Cares Rural Education Program in cooperation with the China Children and Teenagers' Foundation to renovate 40 rural schools. The program in 2008 will benefit 10,000 children.

Through the Cargill China Cares Councils, employees so far have volunteered more than 24,000 hours to local community causes.

Cargill also works to help protect China's biological diversity and freshwater ecosystems, including those in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve region.

Comprising the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong rivers, the reserve is the second largest nature reserve in the world. Nearly 600 million people who live downstream depend on the rivers' proper functioning for their livelihood. Cargill's initiatives to clean up polluted areas and train community members in water conservation will have a “long-term strategic impact” in ensuring the preservation of the region's flora and fauna and on the livelihood of farmers who depend on the river systems, according to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Cargill employees “worked tirelessly in promoting the welfare of their communities through volunteering for projects such as Earth Day,” said Clea Kaske, who worked for one year with the company in China.

Cargill's work in China can be traced to the 1970s, when it cooperated with China to supply grain. The company has invested more than $700 million and employs more than 4,400 people in the country.