Cargill Needs to Come Clean: Demand Transparency

By Rainforest Action Network
Stand with the Community of Semunying Jaya: Demand Transparency from Cargill
Stand with the Community of Semunying Jaya: Demand Transparency from Cargill

With palm oil in half of all products for sale in US grocery stores, we have the right to know the true cost of its production.

Cargill is the #1 importer of palm oil into the US, but the company refuses to be transparent about who it does business with. For instance: Is Cargill still sourcing from the notorious palm oil company Duta Palma even though this company is embroiled in severe social conflicts with communities near its destructive palm plantations?

Dozens of people gathered outside Cargill’s offices today in Hopkins, MN to ask the company to come clean about its operations. Organized by our allies at the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, the group rallied in front of Cargill to demand transparency.

Will you help us amplify their voices by writing to Cargill now and demanding transparency around its “no-trade list”?

In the past, Cargill has said Duta Palma was on its “no-trade list,” but the company has never made this list public and RAN has reason to believe Cargill’s policy of sourcing from any company that pays membership dues to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil allows it to get palm oil from Duta Palma.

Please email Cargill CEO Greg Page now and ask him to come clean.

In 2009, Rainforest Action Network released a case study documenting illegal rainforest burning by Duta Palma on community lands used by the people of Semunying Jaya in Borneo. Duta Palma doesn’t have permits to operate these plantations and police refuse to do anything about this blatant land theft and environmental destruction.

So community members took action themselves.

A few weeks ago, members of the Semunying Jaya community seized several pieces of machinery, trucks, bulldozers and chainsaws, then barricaded the doors of Duta Palma’s palm nursery, shutting down operations. The community members are now facing possible criminal charges for standing up for the health and safety of their home.

We have the right to know: Is Cargill profiting from the oppression of the people of Semunying Jaya by buying palm oil from Duta Palma? Please demand transparency now.