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Invisible Giant

Invisible Giant

Brewster Kneen

(2002)

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Book Details

Abstract

Transnational corporations straddle the globe, largely unseen by the public. Cargill, with its headquarters in the US, is the largest private corporation in North America, and possibly in the world. Cargill trades in food commodities and produces a great many of them: grains, flour, malt, corn, cotton, salt, vegetable oils, fruit juices, animal feeds, and meat.

Among its most profitable activities is its trade in the global financial markets. There are few national economies unaffected by Cargill's activities, and few eaters in the north whose food does not pass through Cargill's hands at some point. Yet Cargill remains largely invisible to most people and accountable to no one outside the company.

This is an explosive book that breaks the silence on the true extent of Cargill's power and influence worldwide - its ability to shape national policies, and the implications of these strategies for all of us. Thoroughly revised and updated, Kneen's new book offers shocking new evidence of Cargill's activities since the book was first published.
'Details the ethos, priorities, strategies and goals of transnational corporations as seen in a single paradigmatic example ... His work is the more amazing given Cargill's general secrecy'
The Boycott Quarterly (US)
'If you want to understand both the theory and the reality of modern economics, Kneen's impressively researched book is a fascinating place to start'
Red Pepper

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Contents iii
Preface vi
1 Mutant Giants 1
Bunge 4
Dreyfus 6
Cargill s World 7
Public Policy 9
2 Cargill Inc. - The Numbers 16
3 Origins, Organization and Ownership 20
Restructuring 22
InnovaSure 26
Ownership 27
4 Policy Advocacy and Capitalist Subsidies 30
Capitalist Subsidies 35
5 Creatures: Feeding and Processing 41
Poultry 50
6 Cotton, Peanuts and Malting 59
Cotton 59
7 Processing: Oilseeds, Soybeans, Corn and Wheat 65
Oilseeds 65
Poland 70
Corn Processing 72
Cerestar Acquisition 76
Dry Milling 77
8 Invisible Commodities 80
The Financial Markets Division 85
9 E-commerce 90
10 Coming and Going: Transport and Storage 94
Storage 95
Transportation Systems 96
11 Typical Stories - Canada and Mexico 104
Canada 104
Mexico 108
12 Fertilizer 110
Phosphate 110
Nitrogen 114
13 The West Coast 116
14 Rivers of Soy - South America 121
Soybean Production 125
Where the Rivers Start 127
Argentina 130
Venezuela 132
15 Juice 134
Fresh Fruits Spoiled 141
16 The 'Far East' 142
Taiwan 143
Korea 148
Japan 157
China 164
17 Seeds 170
Cargill Seeds India 174
Cargill Seed in China 179
18 Salt 181
India 183
San Francisco Bay 189
Venezuela 190
19 Only Cargill's Future? 194
Notes 201
References 206
Periodicals 206
Additional Works 206
Index 208
Abbott Laboratories, 190 190
ACBL Hidrovias , 128 128
Access Financial 84