Corn prices to fall, corporate profits to rise

So why are we not surprised?

While farmers in the Midwest seem gleeful today, there may be a rain cloud on the horizon....

ADM to flourish as corn price falls

Tribune staff, wire reports
Published March 29, 2007

Archer Daniels Midland Co., the world's biggest producer of ethanol, stands to benefit most from an expected decline in corn prices, said analysts at Citigroup Investment Research. The Agriculture Department's plantings report, which will be released Friday, might show a 12 percent surge in the number of acres used to grow corn, leading to lower prices, the analysts wrote. "The biggest potential beneficiary of declining corn prices would be the domestic U.S. ethanol industry as corn represents the primary raw material," they wrote [emphasis ours]. "Archer Daniels stands to benefit most." Shares of Westchester-based Corn Products International Inc., a maker of grain-based sweeteners and starches, should also rise, they said. ADM is based in Decatur, Ill.

The article is here. And for another take on ADM:

Archer Daniels Midland - Supermarkup to the world

This briefing is a supplement to the Corporate Watch report 'Control freaks - the GMO exporters', which analyses the roles of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Cargill and their competitors in the supply chain for genetically-modified crops and food. This supplement gives general, background information on ADM, its culture and activities, and on its UK presence.

Go here for the entirety of the briefing. And a third piece of interest:

Oligopoly profile: Archer Daniels Midland

If you think you are standing up against big business and big agriculture by chowing down on a soy burger washed down with a glass of soy milk, think again. More likely than not, that soy burger and that soy milk have been based on textured protein processed by agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a $500 billion a year company.

ADM's motto is "The Shape of What's to Come." While the term doubtless refers to the company's cutting-edge technologies, it also indicates the future of agriculture through the world, and that future consists of a relentless set of all-controlling oligonomies. The world's #1 grain and corn syrup company, ADM has been repeatedly brought to court by its customers and by governments because for price fixing.

ADM pretty much flies under the radar for most people because it has no real retail presence. But as a powerful oligonomy, ADM squeezes farmers and its customers (food processing and chemical companies) ruthlessly. It wields enormous political power as well, thanks to a major program of political donations to both parties, and has become a corporate "welfare queen".

The whole of the profile is here.