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Laying the Foundation for a Prosperous Agriculture in the New Millenium
2007-11-04
Presentation at the 1999 Trade and Transportation Summit in Sioux Falls, SD
Jim Prokopanko
VP & Retail Crop Inputs Manager, North American Cargill Grain Division
History has shown that companies that can't change quickly don't last. Of the 12 largest companies that existed in the United States in 1900, only one exists today and that's General Electric. Of the 25 biggest companies in 1960, only six are around today.
The real question for all of us is, can we change fast enough to survive? It's the “dinosaur's dilemma”: evolve or die, adapt or die. A few years ago, a researcher at Cargill said, “If we don't figure out this biotechnology thing, we're going to be like the vacuum tube companies. Of the six leading vacuum tube companies that existed in 1955, there's only one left today that successfully transferred into the transistor business, and they're a minor niche player in the transistor business.”
That's one of the reasons Cargill sold its international seed business. We just didn't see how we could go it alone. As large as Cargill is and the resources we have, we just didn't think we could be a success in that industry going alone. An MIT economics professor, Lester Thurow, is known for saying, “Disequilibrium means great threats as well as great opportunities.” One thing I especially want you to take away from what I'm going to say today is that I see nothing but opportunities for Cargill. As tough as times are and as difficult as it is for family farms and for farmers to make a living for themselves and their families, I think we are entering a golden age of agriculture.
I'm going to talk about five items today: (1) the increased demand in many parts of the world for more and better food; (2) the globalization of the food system; (3) the changes we're seeing in technology and how that's changing products, organizations, and companies; (4) the obstacles that farmers and Cargill face in these changing times; and (5) how some of these trends apply to the Northern Great Plains
