Cargill in the Spotlight

Because Cargill touches 25% of palm oil in the global marketplace, RAN has been campaigning to get Cargill to adopt a palm oil policy with basic safeguards for the palm oil it trades and supplies for over three years. Because Cargill is so widely connected to deforestation, habitat loss and human rights violations people are fired up about this issue. This passion has lead dozens of people across the country to take a stand with RAN to demand justice. Here’s a short list of some of RAN’s actions targeting Cargill in the past 3 years:

Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign Launch In the fall of 2007 RAN launched its campaign to turn up the heat on US Agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill by dropping a massive banner on the Chicago Board of Trade reading “ADM, Bunge, Cargill: The ABCs of Rainforest Destruction.”

Cargill Banner on Lake Minnetonka On Lake Minnetonka, just down the road from Cargill’s world headquarters, RAN participated in a Wayzata regatta by turning an M-20 sailboat into a floating banner to send Cargill a clear message in their own backyard.

Matilda Pilacapio Speaking Tour Environmental Rights Advocate from Papua New Guinea accompanied RAN on a speaking tour through Boston, Minneapolis and San Francisco in September 2009.

Holiday Delivery of 5,000 Petitions to Cargill You know something is up when Santa is hanging out with orangutans in the parking lot of your corporate headquarters. The week before Christmas in December 2009, a group of concerned community members delivered 5,000 petitions to Cargill in 15 degree weather.

Warning: General Mills Destroys Rainforests All Cargill customers, especially General Mills, are implicated in Cargill’s supply chain problems. We highlighted this fact by dropping a massive 30x90 foot banner on General Mills’ front lawn at their Golden Valley, MN corporate headquarters to put the food company on public notice. After 8 months of RAN’s campaign, one of Cargill’s most important global customers made a strong statement to its suppliers, including Cargill.

Cargill Destroys Rainforests at Twins-Rangers Game As the favorite local Twin Cities baseball team pulled into the eighth inning of their closing home game against the Texas Rangers, RAN activists unfurled a banner from behind home plate, turning Cargill’s standard advertisement banner into a large banner that read “Cargill Destroys Rainforests.”

Breaking New Video: Inside the Cargill Lock Down In May 2010 a handful of activists locked down inside Cargill’s Lake Office executive mansion blasting real audio footage of Cargill destroying rainforests in Indonesia, demanding a meeting with the CEO.

Massive Banners Dropped on Cargill, Grain Exchange Skyway In September 2010, five Rainforest Action Network activists dropped two billboard sized banners off the Minneapolis Grain Exchange Skyway during rush hour traffic. Reading: “Cargill: #1 Supplier of Rainforest Destruction,” the banners were visible from Cargill’s downtown office in the Grain Exchange to escalate pressure on Cargill as the company refused to meet the growing demand for responsible palm oil in the US.

RAN Delivers Nearly 20,000 Petitions to Cargill HQ In response to the spring 2012 fires that were intentionally set by palm oil companies in Indonesia's threatened Tripa rainforest, RAN gathered thousands of petitions to Cargill CEO Greg Page, calling on him to take action and adopt critical supply chain safeguards that would prevent Cargill from profiting off the destruction of tragedies like the one under way in Tripa. In May 2012 a group of local Twin Cities residents accompanied RAN to deliver nearly 20,000 petitions to Cargill’s doorstep on behalf of orangutan and human rights advocates around the world who want Cargill to adopt safeguards on its palm oil supply chain.