Cargill, ADM Differ in Food-Fuel Debate

MINNEAPOLIS – One agribusiness giant is enthusiastic about using farmland to produce fuel. Another says growing food should be the top priority for those fields.

Archer Daniels Midland Co., by far the country’s largest ethanol producer, has taken an aggressive approach to biofuels including ethanol and biodiesel. Cargill Inc. has been more restrained, though it’s hardly sitting on the sidelines.

Recent comments by the chairmen of both companies mirror a larger debate taking place on how big of a contribution ethanol can make toward reducing America’s need for oil imports, and whether using more corn to make more fuel will lead to higher food prices.

Minnetonka-based Cargill raised the food-versus-fuel issue earlier this month. As he laid out a broad vision of Cargill’s business on a changing global playing field, Warren Staley, its chairman and CEO, told a gathering of business writers here that he saw producing food as the most important task for agriculture.

AP