Archer Daniels Midland

Early history

In 1902, John W. Daniels started a linseed crushing business in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

George A. Archer joined the operation the next year, and in 1905 the firm's name officially became the Archer-Daniels Linseed Company. In 1923, Archer-Daniels Linseed Company acquired Midland Linseed Products Company and then incorporated as the Archer Daniels Midland Company. The new corporation had total assets exceeding $11 million and controlled just over a third (35%) of the total linseed mill capacity within the United States.

In 1924, ADM was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. A series of acquisitions over the next several years expanded the company's oil processing capabilities and agricultural operations, and a grain division was established in 1927. In 1930, ADM purchased control of the flour milling company Commander-Larabee Corp., which was capable of producing 32,000 barrels of flour per day. In 1934 the company began operating its first continuous solvent extraction plant in Chicago, Illinois and could now produce soybean oil. The rapid development of similar extraction plants soon followed.

By 1952, Archer Daniel Midland's workforce had expanded to 5,000 employees, and by 1952 the company was operating overseas and manufacturing over 700 products.

In 1962, the company began using the initials "ADM" for marketing purposes, and filed a trademark for that acronym. In 1965, ADM registered the original patent for textured vegetable protein and began producing the soy flour product at its Decatur East Plant by 1966.

In 1966, Dwayne Andreas and his brother Lowell Andreas became minority shareholders in ADM. In 1969, ADM relocated its headquarters from Minneapolis to Decatur, Illinois, a location closer to the company's soybean processing operations. At this time, it was already considered one of the world's largest agribusiness company, with a labor force of more than 24,000 employees.

Dwayne Andreas period (1970–1997)

Dwayne Andreas was named CEO of ADM in 1970, and two years later was elected chairman of the company's board. Under his leadership, Archer Daniels Midland acquired many smaller agricultural companies and expanded into international markets, eventually becoming one of the world's largest agricultural processing companies. During this period, the company's soybean exports increased from $1.5 billion to $7 billion.

In 1974, ADM made its first expansion into Europe and South America when the company acquired soybean plants in Holland and Brazil.

Products include oils and meal from soybeans, cottonseed, sunflower seeds, canola, peanuts, flaxseed, Palm kernel, and DAG oil, as well as corn germ, corn gluten feed pellets, syrup, starch, dextrose, crystalline dextrose, high fructose corn syrup sweeteners, chocolate, ethanol, and wheat flour. End uses are consumption by people, livestock, and additives for fuel. In January 2008, ADM signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with Daimler AG and Bayer CropScience to explore the use of jatropha as a feedstock for biofuel. Natural flavors were added to ADM's product portfolio with the 2014 acquisition of Wild Flavors and vanilla products were added through the acquisition of Rodelle in 2018.

Long known as a food and ingredients company, it has also invested in fuel production. ADM nearly doubled capital spending in its 2007 budget to an estimated $1.12 billion. The increase is planned for bioenergy projects, focusing on bioethanol and biodiesel.

Oilseeds processing

The oilseeds processing segment includes global activities related to the origination, merchandising, crushing, and further processing of oilseeds such as soybeans and soft seeds (cottonseed, sunflower seed, canola, and flaxseed) into vegetable oils and protein meals.

The first quarter of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, saw the operating profit of Ag Services and Oilseeds (ADM's biggest revenue segment) rise $422 million, or 1.2%.

Scandals

Sherman antitrust violation

In 1920 the US Department of Justice brought suit against the National Linseed Oil Trust for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Several co-defendants were named, including the Archer-Daniels Manufacturing Company. The suit alleged all of these companies were acting in collusion to raise prices, citing a spike in linseed oil costs between 1916 and 1918, when the price rose from $.50 per gallon to $1.80.

Price fixing

In 1993, the company was the subject of a lysine price-fixing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Senior ADM executives were indicted on criminal charges for engaging in price-fixing within the international lysine market. In a tape played at the trial, ADM's President said that a single phrase inspired the company: "Our competitors are our friends. Our customers are the enemy." Three of ADM's top officials, including vice chairman Michael Andreas were eventually sentenced to federal prison in 1999. Moreover, in 1997, the company was fined $100 million, the largest antitrust fine in U.S. history at the time. Mark Whitacre, FBI informant and whistleblower of the lysine price-fixing conspiracy, would also find himself in legal trouble for embezzling money from ADM during his time as an informant for the FBI. In addition ADM's 2005 annual report revealed that earlier that year the company settled a class-action antitrust suit for a payment of $400 million. The Informant is a nonfiction thriller book based on this event, which was later adapted into the 2009 film The Informant!.

Tax dodging

A noteworthy case of transfer mispricing came to light in 2011 in Argentina involving the world's four largest grain traders: ADM, Bunge, Cargill and LDC. Argentina's revenue and customs service began an investigation into the four companies when prices for agricultural commodities spiked in 2008 and yet very little profit for the four companies had been reported to the office. As a result of the investigation, it was alleged that the companies had submitted false declarations of sales and routed profits through tax havens or through their headquarters. In some cases, they were said to have used phantom firms to buy grain and had inflated costs in Argentina in order to reduce the recorded profits earned in the country. According to the country's revenue and customs service, the outstanding taxes amounted to almost US$1 billion. The companies involved have denied the allegations. To date, the Argentinian tax authorities have not replied to the Swiss NGO Public Eye’s request regarding the current state of the case. In its 2018 annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bunge mentioned provisions which suggest that the case is still ongoing: "[A]s of December 31, 2018, Bunge's Argentine subsidiary had received income tax assessments relating to 2006 through 2009 of approximately 1,276 million Argentine pesos (approximately $34 million), plus applicable interest on the outstanding amount of approximately 4,246 million Argentine pesos (approximately $113 million)."

Violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

On December 20, 2013, the SEC announced that it had charged ADM for failing to prevent illicit payments (bribes) made by its foreign subsidiaries to Ukrainian government officials in violation of the FCPA. Alfred C. Toepfer International Ukraine Ltd. (ACTI Ukraine), plead guilty in the Central District of Illinois to one count of conspiracy in violation of the anti-bribery sections of the FCPA. They agreed to pay $17.8 million in fines. The Department of Justice also entered into a non-prosecution agreement with ADM due to the company's failure to implement a system of internal financial controls, addressing improper payments both in Ukraine and by an ADM joint venture in Venezuela. ADM agreed to pay more than $36 million to settle the SEC's charges, bringing the total amount paid to over $54 million.

The Swiss NGO Public Eye elaborated the case.

Sonny Perdue land sale

In 2021, an investigation by the Washington Post found that ADM had sold land to incoming Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in 2017 at a fraction of its estimated value. Ethics lawyers had legal and ethical concerns about the sale, questioning whether it amounted to bribery. According to the Post, ADM "sold the land at a small fraction of its estimated value just as it stood to benefit from a friendly secretary of agriculture."