Cargill Inc. CEO David MacLennan is warning that protectionist and anti-immigration policies could hurt the company — one of the nation’s largest — by stalling trade and driving away some of its best people.
Bloomberg reports on an essay by MacLennan in the Huffington Post (you can also read his full remarks here), noting that he becomes the latest CEO to push back against President Donald Trump’s immigration ban and moves to scrap international trade deals.
Though McLennan doesn’t mention Trump by name, he calls out legal immigration as a positive force, both for the company and the U.S. economy, and adds that, “The current climate has many of our smartest people from outside the U.S. questioning whether they want to stay here.”
He also speaks up for international trade deals, noting that American agricultural exports to Mexico and Canada have quadrupled to $38.6 billion since the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented. “We can’t afford to wall ourselves off from these markets,” he said.
Minnetonka-based Cargill’s got a horse in the race, of course. It and other agribusiness giants are among the world’s largest trading companies. But Cargill has traditionally kept out of political debates, so MacLennan speaking out about this sort of thing is generally more surprising than, say, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz doing it.
By Mark Reilly
Source: Biz Journals
Danone has appointed three deputy CEOs to “better connect categories and regions” and drive the delivery of its ‘Renew Danone’ strategy. The new appointees are Veronique Penchienati-Bosetta, Shane Grant and Juergen Esser. They will report to Danone CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique.
PepsiCo Portugal has announced that it will invest €7.5 million to construct a new biodigester, which will turn organic waste into biogas. As well as helping its Carregado facility to achieve a 30% reduction in carbon emissions, the biodigester will also contribute to reducing gas consumption, allowing the installation to use the biogas produced during the anaerobic digestion process.
Kerry is sponsoring The Kerry Upcycled Food Foundation Fellowship in a new partnership with the Upcycled Food Foundation (UFF), the non-profit subsidiary of the Upcycled Food Association (UFA). The research fellowship is the second initiated by the UFF and will work toward advancing the understanding of the market, consumer perception and technical opportunities of upcycled food.
