Cargill: Het Slechtste Bedrijf Ter Wereld

The report by Mighty Earth characterizes Cargill as a major contributor to global deforestation, climate change, and human rights violations. It details the company's role in destroying the Amazon and Gran Chaco ecosystems for soy production, the use of child labor in West African cocoa production, and significant pollution of air and water in the United States. The document highlights a pattern of 'misleading' corporate pledges by CEO David MacLennan, noting that the company often resists expanding sustainability protections to new regions like the Brazilian Cerrado. It specifically criticizes major clients such as Ahold Delhaize, McDonald's, and Sysco for continuing to support Cargill despite their own public sustainability commitments.

• Cargill is accused of a persistent pattern of misleading the public and failing to implement high-level sustainability pledges, specifically regarding the elimination of deforestation in its supply chains by 2020.
• In South America, Cargill is identified as a major driver of deforestation in the Amazon and the Gran Chaco ecosystem to produce genetically modified soy for animal feed, often displacing Indigenous peoples and exposing them to toxic pesticides.
• The report states that Cargill contributes to the destruction of forests in Ghana and Ivory Coast for cocoa production, with an estimated 40% of cocoa in Ivory Coast originating from national parks and protected areas.
• Cargill is linked to systemic child labor and slavery in West African cocoa supply chains, including a 2005 lawsuit involving children smuggled from Mali to Ivory Coast.
• In the United States, Cargill is cited as a top polluter of air and water, with ten of its companies violating EPA emission rules every quarter over a three-year period, and contributing significantly to the 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico via nitrogen and phosphorus runoff.
• The company has faced severe food safety failures, including the delivery of contaminated beef; a 2007 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak was linked to Cargill's practice of mixing slaughterhouse scraps to reduce costs by 25%.

APA

Waxman, H. (n.d.). Cargill: Het Slechtste Bedrijf Ter Wereld. Mighty Earth. https://stories.mightyearth.org/cargill_het_slechtste_bedrijf_ter_wereld/

Chicago

Waxman, Henry. Cargill: Het Slechtste Bedrijf Ter Wereld. Mighty Earth, n.d. https://stories.mightyearth.org/cargill_het_slechtste_bedrijf_ter_wereld/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Waxman |first1=Henry |title=Cargill: Het Slechtste Bedrijf Ter Wereld |publisher=Mighty Earth |url=https://stories.mightyearth.org/cargill_het_slechtste_bedrijf_ter_wereld/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{waxmanndcargill, author = {Waxman, Henry}, title = {{Cargill: Het Slechtste Bedrijf Ter Wereld}}, institution = {Mighty Earth}, url = {https://stories.mightyearth.org/cargill_het_slechtste_bedrijf_ter_wereld/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }