Invisible giant : Cargill and its transnational strategies / Brewster Kneen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kneen, Brewster.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grain trade--United States--History.

Grain trade.

Agricultural industries--United States--History.

Agricultural industries.

Food industry and trade--United States--History.

Food industry and trade.

International business enterprises--United States--History.

International business enterprises.

Grain trade--History.

Agricultural industries--History.

Food industry and trade--History.

Cargill, Inc--History.

Cargill, Inc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (232 p.)

Edition:

2nd ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

'Kneen has published a detailed study of of the gargantuan Cargill corporation ... This is a book for activists. Kneen has crawled into the belly of the beast, as it were, and (in very readable prose) had described what he saw there ... Kneen's Invisible Giant 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. People who are concerned about the influence of corporations on civic institutions, on economic security, on the well-being of the environment, and who are interested in working to change that influence could hardly find a better primer on corporate thinking and conduct than this book' The Boycott Quarterly (US)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 the second edition of 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 in 1995. He examines how it has succeeded in eliminating competition by undertaking joint ventures with virtually all of its supposed competitors. He shows how this massive corporation continues to acquire and divest, extending its grip even further in what amounts to almost total control of the global food system.

Contents:

Mutant giants

Cargill, Inc. : the numbers

Origins, organization and ownership

Policy advocacy and capitalist subsidies

Creatures : feeding and processing

Cotton, peanuts & malting

Processing : oilseeds, soybeans, corn & wheat

Invisible commodities

E-commerce

Coming and going : transport and storage

A typical story : Canada and Mexico

Fertilizer

The West Coast

Rivers of soy : South America

Juice

The 'Far East'

Seeds

Salt

Only Cargill's Future?

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781783715435

178371543X

9781849641715

1849641714

OCLC:

847247087