World Grain - April 2017 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Challenges facing
grain industry
Publisher
Dan Flavin
International Sales Manager Adam Ungashick

hen the top executive of one of the
world's largest grain-based companies addresses a convention of his
industry's leaders, the expectation is that he
will express a degree of enthusiasm about the
business, regardless of the present situation.
Juan Luciano, chairman and chief executive of Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM),
speaking to the recent gathering of the National Grain and Feed Association, did not
surprise in pointing to the promising future
he sees for the global grain and food business. Yet, in making that case, Mr. Luciano
said achieving that future requires companies
and executives to face up to and win over speFL¿FFKDOOHQJHV$VWKHLQGXVWU\KDVDOUHDG\
learned in listening to and reading what this
executive believes, the direction he describes
leaves no room for missing the mark.
His approach is emphasized in the lead
positive he cited. Pointing out that 90% of
the global population lives in developing
nations, he said their life "has been getting
better in the last 20 years." During those two
decades, the share of population living in
poverty or experiencing chronic hunger has
been halved. The result is marked growth in
numbers approaching or reaching middle
class, which obviously improves the quantity and quality of what they desire to eat.
Combining this with expanding world population means growing demand for grains as
the basic raw material of many foods.
5HDOL]LQJ WKH EHQH¿WV RI WKLV H[SDQsion requires a keenly alert industry fully
in tune with reacting to a series of challenges. Here he emphasized that trade issues will loom large in determining how
the grain industry evolves.
"We must strike home the message that
trade in agricultural products is not a zerosum game, that trade is essential for feeding the world, for the health of the global
economy," he said, also voicing the belief
that "farmers must have the freedom to
plant what they want." Noting that U.S. agriculture has run a trade surplus for nearly
50 years, Mr. Luciano emphasized that
"few things are as critical for us as healthy,

robust support for agricultural trade."
Here is the point where Mr. Luciano revealed that he had recently been at a White
House working group session attended by
24 executives of major corporations. What
he heard made him "a little bit more positive." He based this on President Trump
saying his administration does not oppose
WUDGHEXWZDQWVDOHYHOSOD\LQJ¿HOGUHÀHFWing fair trade. The ADM executive noted he
had traveled to both Mexico and China this
year, and this led him to conclude "there is a
lot of room for discussion, for collaboration
and for understanding before we step up the
rhetoric." His view is built on a multipolar
world requiring that countries, as well as
their businesses, face up to these realities.
Turning to America and other developed
countries, Mr. Luciano cited the challenge
created by shifting consumer preferences
and different expectations about health and
QXWULWLRQ RI VSHFL¿F IRRGV +H FLWHG H[DPples from ADM's experience and also related efforts to ensure traceability of products
as well as sustainability.
The fourth challenge discussed by Mr.
Luciano involved how the industry and its
member companies react to, as well as leveraging, the amazing technological changes
under way across the world. Citing what he
called the "phenomenal pace" of change, he
said it is essential for the food industry to
HPEUDFH DQG ¿QG ZD\V RI OHYHUDJLQJ WKHVH
new developments. That challenge is just the
sort of issue that Mr. Luciano embraced in
urging the industry not to resist, but to recognize what may be gained by taking advantage of this fast-changing world. Equating
advocacy of trade and agricultural policies
without restraints on farmers as well as embracing new technologies represents a heady
challenge. But Mr. Luciano made doing that
worthwhile when he commented, "Things
often are better than we seem to think they
are." Coming from someone who has seen
so much, his "better" offers great promise.
Morton I. Sosland
Editor-in-chief

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WORLD GRAIN (ISSN 0745-8991) Volume 35, issue 4,

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