Cargill and ADM: true beneficiaries of "farm" subsidies
It has been estimated that Cargill and ADM together probably buy somewhere a third of all the corn grown in America. These 2 companies now guide corn's path every step of the way. They provide the pesticide and fertilizer to the farmers; operate most of America's grain elevators; broker and ship most of the exports; perform the wet and dry milling; feed the livestock and then slaughter the corn-fattened animals; ferment the ethanol; and manufacture the high-fructose corn syrup and the numberless other fractions derived from number 2 field corn. Oh, yes--and help write many of the rules that govern the whole game, for Cargill and ADM exert considerable influence over U.S. agricultural policies. More even than the farmers who receive the checks (and the political blame for cashing them), these companies are the true beneficiaries of the "farm" subsidies that keep the river of cheap corn flowing. Cargill is the biggest privately held corporation in the world.
Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, p. 63.


