History of ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Co.) and the Andreas Family's Work with Soybeans and Soyfoods (1884-2020)
William Shurtleff, Akiko AoyagiISBN: 978-1-948436-23-6
Publication Date: 2020 Aug. 6
Number of References in Bibliography: 2158
Earliest Reference: 1884
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Brief Chronology/Timeline of ADM
1884 – George A. Archer (who was born in 1850 in Dayton, Ohio, and worked in Dayton as a partner for 10 years in the linseed firm headed by his father), decides in 1884 to move west to Yankton, South Dakota, to be nearer the source of flaxseed. In 1884 he opens his own linseed factory in Yankton, and founds Archer & Co. In 1889 Mr. Archer moves his business to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and sells the factory to American Linseed Co. (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1932. Nov. 13, p. 1, 6).
1900 Sept. 26 – “Midland Linseed Oil company of Minneapolis, having a capital stock of $400,000, has filed articles of incorporation with the secretary of state. The work of the company will be the manufacturing of linseed oil and other products of flax seed, the buying, selling and shipping of flax seed and its products.” (Mower County Transcript {Lansing, Michigan}, p. 8). It “will compete with the American Linseed Company, the trust” (Chicago Tribune. 1900. Oct. 2, p. 9).
1902 – ADM dates its founding from this year – in many anniversary documents in later years. It was in 1902 that the Archer-Daniels Linseed Co. was organized and started operations at Minneapolis (Decatur Herald, 1939 Dec. 31; Soybean Digest. 1952, Nov. p. 22; Dick Wallace, 1981, Sept. 11. Personal communication; Inform. 2003. Sept. (“ADM celebrates 101 years”); History of ADM. 2016 & 2020 (on ADM website); Wikipedia ADM (retrieved 2020 July 22).
1904 – Mr. Archer joins with John W. Daniels to organize the Archer-Daniels Co. On 7 Feb. 1905 it was voted to take the necessary steps toward changing the firm's name to the Archer-Daniels Linseed Company. George A. Archer, who owned 50% of the company, was president. “When the Archer-Daniels Linseed Company was formed in 1905, John W. Daniels was 47 years old and George A. Archer was 55” (Marion Cross. 1954, p. 23-25).
1911 June 29 – The Midland Linseed Oil Co., Minneapolis, plans to build a linseed oil mill on the water front of the Jersey side of the Hudson River. E.C. Warner is president of the company. The mill, which will contain 48 presses, is expected to cost about $650,000. The new mill points to increased imports of flaxseed in the future (Wall Street Journal, p. 5).
1911 Aug. 29 – Midland Linseed Oil company is renamed Midland Linseed Oil Products company as its capitalization is increased to $5,000,000 by E.C. Warner, Walter D. Douglas, George F. Piper, and Arthur L, Bisbee (Oshkosh Northwestern {Wisconsin}, p. 9; Chicago Tribune, p. 12).
1918 March 4 – Dwayne Orville Andreas is born in Worthington, Nobles County, Minnesota, the 5th child (and 4th son) of Reuben Peter Andreas and Lydia Barbara Stoltz. The family lived a simple Mennonite life. The children were raised with something akin to Mennonite discipline – no movies, no Sunday papers, no ball games on Sundays, a surfeit of religious devotions, and unending hard work.
1920 July 7 – The U.S. Department of Justice files a suit under the Sherman anti-trust law alleging price fixing of linseed oil against the linseed oil trust – all the big flaxseed oil crushers. The Justice Department assails the industry’s “open price plan” (New York Times, p. 23).
1923 May 22 – The Archer-Daniels-Midland Company is organized to take over the plants of Midland and the assets of Archer-Daniels Linseed Company and the Midland Linseed Products Company. The new corporation, with total assets exceeding $11,000,000, incorporated in Delaware, will control about 35% of the linseed mill capacity in the United States (Wausau Daily Herald {Wausau, Wisconsin}, p. 10); $5,000.000 is expected to be raised in a major public stock offering (Star Tribune, April 24 {Minneapolis, Minnesota}, p. 22; Cincinnati Enquirer, April 24, p. 14).
It will become world's largest producer of linseed oil. Its nine mills contain a total of 334 flaxseed presses. After the merger, the other two largest flaxseed crushers in America were Spencer Kellogg and Sons, Inc., of Buffalo, and the American Linseed Company, owned by Rockefeller interests. (Marion Cross. 1954. p. 34-37, p. 39).
"New York, July 10 [1923] – The Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. has declared an initial dividend of $0.75 on the preferred stock, payable August 1 to holders of record July 20."
The new corporation soon has two listings on the New York Curb Exchange: “Archer Dan Midland” sells for about 39. “Archer Dan Mid pfd” [preferred] sells for about 98.
Note: In 1953 The New York Curb Exchange changed its name to the American Stock Exchange (AMEX).
1924 Feb. 24 – Lowell Willard Andreas is born in Lisbon, Linn County, Iowa, the 6th and youngest child of Reuben Peter Andreas and Lydia Barbara Stoltz. He was about 2 years younger than Dwayne.
1927 – Reuben Andreas, Dwayne’s father, enters the grain business when he takes over a bankrupt grain, coal and seed business – with a mortgage from the Lisbon National Bank. Dwayne is about age 10.
1928 – ADM acquires the Toledo Seed & Oil Co. On March 11, 1929, the company announces that it will enlarge its plant to make soy bean oil (Wall Street Journal. 1929. March 11, p. 5).
1928 – ADM acquires the William O. Goodrich Co. located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication)
1929 – During this year “ADM took two more extremely significant steps toward diversifying its manufacturing activities. Converting the Toledo [Ohio] and Chicago plants to the crushing of soybeans did not seem momentous at the time because the United States was just becoming aware of the potential value of the soybean.” A photo (facing p. 40) shows the ADM soybean processing plant in Chicago, Illinois (Marion Cross. 1954. p. 40; Wall Street Journal. 1929, March 11, p. 5).
1934 March – ADM begins operating the first large-scale continuous solvent extraction plant in the USA in Chicago, Illinois. The plant used a “Hildebrandt” extractor to process 100 tons/day of soybeans. The solvent was petroleum naphtha of the hexane type. This ADM plant represented a “turning point and marked the beginning of the large scale edible oil extraction industry as it is known today.” Installations of other large-capacity continuous solvent extraction plants followed in rapid succession: 1934 Nov. – The Glidden Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1937 Nov. – The Central Soya Co., Decatur, Indiana. 1938 Oct. – Honeymead Products Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Oil Mill Gazetteer. 1947. Aug. p. 17-21, 35-43).
1934 June – ADM starts making food grade lecithin (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1935 – James W. Hayward, PhD, becomes director of the new department of nutritional research of the soybean division of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went to ADM immediately after earning his PhD degree in animal nutrition from the University of Wisconsin. He is known worldwide as a leading authority on the use of soybean oil meal in livestock feed (Soybean Digest. 1951. Sept., p. 22).
1935 fall – After graduating from high school in only 3 years, Dwayne enrolls in Wheaton College, Illinois. His mother hoped that he would be a minister. But he dropped out near the end of his 2nd year, thus ending his formal education. Later that year he married Bertha Benedict (whom he met at Wheaton) in St Lucie County, Florida; he was age 18 and she was 21. They had two children: (1) Terry Lynn Andreas, born about 1943 – place unknown; (2) Sandra Ann Andreas – date and place of birth unknown. On 9 July 1967 Sandra married William G. McMurtie in Washington, D.C. In 1981 she first traveled to India and became Mother Teresa’s faithful acolyte.
1935 – ADM starts making whole (full-fat) soy flour (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1937 – Dwayne Andreas enters the family business.
1938 – Dwayne Andreas is sent to the Staley Company in Decatur, Illinois, to buy a year’s supply of soybean meal. After completing the deal, Mr. Staley, who was about 80 years old, invited him out to lunch. Mr. Staley said, “Young man, it's foolish for you to come down here to buy soybean meal. You should build your own plant in Iowa." Dwayne said, “Mr. Staley, I don't have that kind of money.” He replied, “Go to Allis-Chalmers (the equipment manufacturer) in Milwaukee and they'll send you a soybean plant 5% down. Give them my name as a reference.”
Three days later Dwayne started to build a soybean processing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Herald and Review {Decatur, Illinois}. 1999. March 7, p. 55).
1939 Sept. – ADM starts to operate its massive soybean crushing plant in Decatur, Illinois (Decatur Herald. Jan. 11, p. 1; Proceedings of the American Soybean Association. [Sept.] p. 9).
1939 Sept. – ADM is now making “soybean pellets” (Proceedings of the American Soybean Association. p. 9).
1939 – The Andreas family opens Honeymead Products Co. Inc. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Herald & Review. 1999. March 7, p. 1).
1940 Sept. 28 – The Federal Trade Commission charges the American Lecithin Co., ADM, and several others with “restraint of trade” in the field of lecithin. Thus, ADM is making lecithin by this time (Minneapolis Star {Minnesota}, p. 15). On 20 May 1941 it ordered the group to cease and desist (Federal Register, p. 2478-80).
1942 – Cargill Purchases the Iowa Milling Co. The grain milling plant at 411 Sixth Street NE caught fire in October 1944. Lawrence Hoskins, manager of the plant, said there were no [soy] beans or oil in the mill or in the huge concrete storage tanks. Old stock was gone and the new bean crop had not yet come in, but the facility was gutted...
1945 June 1 – Cargill buys the Honeymead soybean crushing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for an estimated $2.5 million. This feed and soybean processing plant is situated at 850 Tenth street SW. Dwayne O. Andreas has resigned as vice-president of Honeymead and will become general manager of the Cedar Rapids operations of Cargill. Cargill's new plant in west Cedar Rapids has about 100 employees. The plant has a daily soybean processing capacity of 4,300 bushels, manufactures 200 tons of feed daily and has a bulk grain storage capacity of 700,000 bushels. The Honeymead company will retain its main office here and continue operation of feed and soybean processing plants at Spencer and Washington, Iowa.
1945 – Honeymead earns $150,000 a year after taxes, with Dwayne largely running the family business. Sold out to Cargill, Inc. when Dwayne thought he was going to have to serve in the Army. Dwayne has a net worth of $2.5 million at age 27 (Herald & Review. 1999. March 7, p. 1).
1945-1952 – Dwayne Andreas is vice president of Cargill. He has grown up running soybean crushing plants with his father and brother in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, In 1945 he becomes associated with Cargill, Inc. at its headquarters in Minneapolis. That same year he was elected assistant vice president, and in 1946 a vice president. He was hired by Cargill to develop its vegetable oil processing and refining division to include flaxseed processing (Whitney Eastman. 1968, p. 53-54).
1946 March – ADM is now using the tagline “Creating new values from America's harvests” (Soybean Digest. p. 34).
1949 Oct. 31 – The ticker tape symbol of the Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., on the New York Stock Exchange, was changed to “ADM” from “ADD” (Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly, p. 11).
1951 – “Chemurgy is success factor at A-D-M.” “Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has emerged as the nation's largest producer of vegetable oils, and as one of the world's largest processors of farm-crops. Directly this growth can be traced to the application of the principles of Chemurgy, for the company has held fast to its slogan, 'creating new values from America's harvests through chemical research.”’
In the company's 149-year history, it has never finished a year in the red, “and hasn't skipped a dividend since 1927. As of June 30, 1950, the company was a $250,000,000 a year business with no bank loans, bonds, notes, or preferred stock, and a net worth of $80,000,000.” During the last 5 years alone, over $30 million has been invested in new plants, including a “modern soybean solvent extraction plant that began operating in Mankato, Minnesota, crushing soybeans in Oct. 1950” (Chemurgic Digest. 1951. Feb., p. 4.
1953-1960 – Dwayne Andreas is Honeymead’s executive and chief shareholder.
1952 – Dwayne Andreas “retires” from Cargill to be able to devote more attention to Honeymead Products Company, a rapidly expanding business owned by Dwayne and his brother, Lowell. For a while, Honeymead was operating [in Mankato, Minnesota] one of the largest soybean processing plants in the USA – or the world. In 1960 the Andreas brothers sold the Honeymead plant to Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association (GTA) – a farmers’ cooperative (Whitney Eastman. 1968, p. 53-54).
1956 – Dr. James W. Hayward retires as Director of Nutritional Research for ADM when the position of Director of Nutrition was created for him. He worked in this position until the late 1950s. In the early 1960s he worked as a consultant for ADM (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1957 July 1 – ADM acquires a soy protein isolate plant from The Drackett Co. William Atkinson goes to ADM as part of the deal. At ADM Atkinson invents TVP – a registered trademark that stands for textured vegetable protein. That plant, located in Evendale [near Cincinnati] Ohio, made only industrial (not edible) soy protein isolates (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1960 – Dwayne & Lowell Andreas organize Interoceanic Industries, Inc. – later renamed First Interoceanic Corporation – to act as a family investment corporation for their far-flung activities (Eastman 1968).
1960-1966 – Dwayne Andreas is executive vice president of Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association, a cooperative.
1960 abt. – ADM introduces Adpro 410: A low viscosity, readily soluble isolated soy protein for industrial use (undated brochure).
1962 April – Archer Daniels Midland Co. introduces a new trademark and decides to consistently call itself “ADM” (Soybean Digest, p. 27).
1965 – This year’s annual report shows that ADM has had decreases in net income (profit) for four years in a row – from $4.421 million in 1962 to $2.765 million in 1965. It’s time to make some big changes. To his great credit, Shreve “Bud” Archer, Jr. of ADM offered to sell Dwayne and Lowell Andreas a block of ADM stock – 100,000 shares at about half its book value, for a total of $3.3 million – which amounted to effective control of the company, if they would agree to come in and run it – a company that was in decline, had too many workers and was very poorly managed. Dwayne and Lowell saw ADM as a company with great potential if they could turn it around. (Wall Street Journal. 1972. Jan. 18. p. 26; Lowell Andreas. 2003. Personal communication).
1965 – British Arkady first produces TVP for ADM (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication; W. Pringle, 1990. May 30. Personal communication).
1966 early – Dwayne and Lowell Andreas join ADM. Dwayne joins the board and executive committee. Early the next year Lowell Andreas becomes executive vice president in the newly created office of the president, where he formally shares authority with John Daniels (Fortune. 1973. Oct. p. 136-41; Herald & Review. 1999. March 7. “Life Line”).
Through First Interoceanic Corp. they buy 100,000 shares of ADM stock, later extending their holdings to 181,900 shares. Dwayne owned 60% of the block of stock and Lowell owned 40%. Both Dwayne and Lowell moved to Minneapolis, where ADM was headquartered. Lowell stayed there for 1 year. Both men quickly realized that ADM needed “total reorganization.”
1966 Dec. – The word “TVP” is first mentioned in a publication (Soybean Digest, p. 14). The patent application was filed by the inventor, William T. Atkinson, on 7 March 1969, and U.S. Patent No. 3,488,770 was issued on 6 Jan. 1970. ADM refers to this patent number as the one governing TVP®.
1965-66 – ADM starts producing cereal-soy blends such as CSM and WSB (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1967 April – ADM sells all of its chemical operations for $65 million. With this money the company catches up on a generation of soybean processing technology it has missed, renovating its two soybean plants at Decatur, increasing the capacity of one to 4,000 tons a day (keeping it the largest in the world). Over a 3-year period, ADM’s soybean crushing capacity is increased from 50 million to 120 million bushels a year.
1967 – ADM enters the barge freight business.
1968 June – ADM announces that the headquarters of two of its divisions – soybean and food products – will be moved from Minneapolis to Decatur, Illinois. The relocation was actually completed in 1969.
1968 – ADM acquires Ross & Rowe, Inc., makers of Yelkin lecithin since at least 1931, for 6,000 shares; it becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of ADM (Pho, V.H. 2002. p. 64-66; Minneapolis Star Tribune, p. 70).
1969 – ADM finishes moving its headquarters from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Decatur, Illinois. Later in 1969 John Daniels moves to chairman of the board and Lowell Andreas becomes president of ADM (Herald & Review. 1999. March 7. “Life Line”).
1970 – Dwayne Andreas is named chief executive officer (CEO) of ADM.
1970 – ADM starts making bacon-flavored TVP (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1972 Feb. – Lowell W. Andreas steps down as president of ADM. He said he would, when he reached age 50, at about the time he joined the company in 1965 (Wall Street Journal. 1972. Jan. 18. p. 26).
1972 – Dwayne Andreas is elected chairman of the board at ADM. He is credited with transforming the firm into an industrial powerhouse. Andreas remains CEO until 1997 before his nephew G. Allen Andreas was named to this position. (ADM website). He was one of the most prominent political campaign donors in the United States, having contributed millions of dollars to Democratic and Republican candidates alike (Frontline, via Wikipedia 2020. July).
1973 Jan. 15 – ADM acquires 50% of British Arkady Holdings Ltd. and simultaneously acquires its subsidiary British Arkady Co. of Old Trafford, Manchester, England. British Arkady Holdings Ltd. is the important company since it owns all of the subsidiaries, such as the Haldane Group. Also in 1973 British Arkady starts to make TVP in Manchester in 3 flavors: TVP Mince 120, TVP Mince 240, and TVP Chunk 10. The products are sometimes called “soya meat” or “vegetable meat.”
1973 Oct. – “Dwayne Andreas’s bean has a heart of gold,” by Ross Irwin is published in Fortune magazine. One of the best articles and histories seen on Dwayne Andreas and A-D-M. In the 7 years since Andreas took over the leadership of A-D-M, he has nearly tripled sales (from $371,626,000 in fiscal 1967 to $967,710,000 in fiscal 1973) and quintupled operating profits (from $3,225,000 to $16,895,000). Meanwhile, the price of the stock has nearly quadrupled.
1974 – ADM acquires British Arkady (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1974 – ADM in Brazil.
1974 acquired; soybean processing, edible oil refinery; Technologia Tecnologia em Vegetais e Proteinas SA / 50%
1974 acquired / soybean processing, edible oil; ADM do Brasil Productos Agricolas
Source: Burbach & Flynn. 1980. p. 255.
1976 – ADM starts making soy protein concentrate and textured soy protein concentrate; the latter was initially named TVP/2 (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1976 – ADM is now using a new tagline “Where the people who feed the world buy their groceries.”
1980 – ADM’s net earnings are $115,958,000 on net sales and other operating income of $2,802,011,000.
1980 – ADM Foods is formed (Dick Wallace. 1981. Sept. 11. Personal communication).
1982 – ADM sponsors three television ads for TVP on two widely-watched Sunday-morning programs. Also sponsors a major print-ad campaign. "Over 200 million lb of TVP have been used to date in over 1,000 different consumer products.”
“'Malthus said it would take a miracle to feed the world. Here it is' – the soybean.” (Soyfoods magazine. 1982. Summer. p. 51, 53).
1982 Dec. – ADM buys 80% of Alfred C. Toepfer International (ACTI), a grain trading firm based in Germany. With this, ADM became a multinational grain trader. In 2014 ADM International purchased the remaining 20% of the company.
1985 March – British Arkady acquires Direct Foods Ltd., the first soyfoods company it buys. Since ADM owns British Arkady, Dwayne Andreas approves (directly or indirectly) each acquisition. Anna and Peter Roberts, the founders and owners of Direct Foods, Ltd., were buying Arkady's TVP in bulk, then packing it into small domestic retail packs. Direct Foods thus becomes the first member of what would become the Haldane Foods Group. Having gotten into this business, Arkady liked what they were doing, so they began to look at other ways of adding value to textured protein (John Mahlich. 1994. March 6. Personal communication).
1986 Feb. – British Arkady acquires Vegetarian Feasts Ltd. Sonia Newhouse was selling frozen meatless entrees with no additives or artificial ingredients, with TVP as the main ingredient. This company put Arkady in the frozen food business (John Mahlich. 1994. March 6. Personal communication).
1987 June – “British Arkady purchases Societe Industrielle des Oléagineux, better known as S.I.O. This long established French company has a factory in Aras and offices in Paris. Its principal activities include the milling of full-fat and defatted soy flours, and the manufacture of specialty oils for the food industry” (ADM Annual Report, 1987 [Dec.]).
1987 Aug. – The British Arkady Group acquires Haldane Foods Ltd., which owned The Regular Tofu Company. Haldane Foods had the best factory and offices in the still nameless group, and it was the biggest of the companies Arkady had acquired, and the one with the nicest sounding name. So British Arkady coined the name Haldane Foods Group Ltd., and began to use it as the first name for the new group of companies. With each new acquisition, Peter Fitch continued to be the Director General Manager leading the Group (John Mahlich. 1994).
1987 – British Arkady acquires Vegetarian Cuisine Ltd., which basically was doing the same sorts of things as Vegetarian Feasts. Vegetarian Cuisine had a nice factory in Coventry, whereas Vegetarian Feasts had a factory in London that was very expensive. John Mahlich saw the opportunity to put the two into one manufacturing unit and to reduce costs by sharing them (John Mahlich. 1994).
1987 Dec. 31 – ADM acquires the rest of Arkady Holdings Ltd. so that it now owns 100% (John Mahlich. 1994).
1988 Sept. – Haldane Foods Group acquires Realeat Foods Ltd. Gregory Sams was making dry vegeburger mix and frozen vegeburgers, but with 3-4 middlemen each taking a cut. So by tidying that all up and bringing it in house, Arkady had the chance to improve Realeat's financial status (John Mahlich). In 1990 The Realeat Company released: The 1990 Realeat survey 1984-1990: “Changing attitudes to meat consumption” [in Great Britain]. This was the 7th consecutive survey (Greg Sams).
1989 Feb. – Haldane Foods Group acquires Kwality Foods, which it renamed Saucemasters Ltd. The company basically makes noodle- or rice-based vegetarian snack meals that contain textured protein and dried vegetables with a sauce sachet in each plastic cup. You pour hot water into the cup, leave for 4 minutes, and you have a very convenient and nutritious meal. This type of product is big business in England (John Mahlich).
1989 March – Handane Foods Group acquires Genice Foods Ltd. Pronounced JEN-ice, it makes non-dairy ice creams, yogurts, and margarines. "By this time we were deeply into the healthy food, health food, vegetarian business." Though this was the Group's first company to make non-dairy products, it fit well because their products were basically made from soya – either soyamilk or soya protein isolates. "Not only were we developing a group of interesting companies that can make some profit, but we were also signaling to a very large audience that maybe others (such as the many food manufactures who have been hesitant to use soya) should get into the soya business. And ADM likes that, because the more it is obvious that soya is here to stay and that it has multitudinous uses, the more Dwayne Andreas's dream will come true. (John Mahlich).
1989 – ADM’s new tagline is “Supermarket to the world” (Des Moines Register. 1989. Feb. 5; 1992 Annual Report).
1989? – British Arkady Co. Ltd. starts making TVP2 – Textured soy protein concentrate. And Arkady Sparkle – Granular Soya Protein Concentrate.
1990 Dec. – The Haldane Group purchases Unisoy, a small soya company which was for sale and which made soymilk (John Mahlich).
1991? – The Haldane Group purchases Granose Food Company. “Granose had built a brand new and beautiful factory which was about 40 miles north of London, and that fit it very well to the growth and pattern that we were following.” So the Haldane Group moved the center of their operations out of the Haldane factory and into the Granose factory, where it now is. Granose was selling soyamilk that was being imported from a German manufacturer [DE-VAU-GE]. The Haldane Group decided to discontinue these imports, and now Unisoy is making all of the soyamilk for Granose that used to be imported from Germany. The quality of Unisoy's soyamilk is definitely as good as the German-made product, and now Granose has added many new soyamilk products to its range.
The various products sold by the companies in the Haldane Group are being made in five factories: the Unisoy factory (soyamilk), the Genice factory (non-dairy yogurts, ice creams, and margarine), the Haldane factory (which makes all dry mixes), and the Granose factory (which makes frozen burgers and many other non-dry products). The Group also makes unique skinless sausages
“The main thing to remember is that this is all part of ADM, it has all been approved by Dwayne Andreas and the ADM board, and it’s very much in line with ADM's philosophy.” Dwayne believes that soy products will play a key role in feeding this world. “To Dwayne, that is a mission” (John Mahlich).
1990 Sept. – ADM starts to sell Midland Harvest Harvest Burgers – Frozen, plant-based. By May 1992, some 4,500 per day are sold at one restaurant in Moscow (Direct Marketing. 1993. Sept. p. 23-26).
1993 Oct. – ADM starts to sell its meatless Harvest Burger through the Green Giant Div. of Pillsbury. They are sold at many U.S. supermarkets. ADM’s 1997 Annual Report says that more than 100 million Green Giant Harvest Burgers have been sold (p. 19).
1994 Nov. – Michael Andreas, son of Dwayne O. Andreas and heir apparent, is now vice chairman of ADM’s board of directors and executive vice president. He observes astutely: “Over the last 15 years, however, I observed the following. Ten million acres of soybeans disappeared from the U.S., while areas in Argentina and Brazil increased 14 million acres where land was cheaper and subsidized credits were available. An additional 18.7 million oilseed acres were planted in Canada and Europe, again with heavy subsidies. Twenty-two soybean factories [crushing plants] were closed in our country, while fifty sprung up in South America and Europe. Our share of the world market in soybean products was cut in half. In fact, over 20,000 soybean farmers left the business, and 50,000 jobs were lost at home” (ADM’s First quarter report to shareholders).
Note: Bonnie Wittenburg (March 1995) says that all operating divisions of ADM have reported to Michael (“Mick”) Andreas for the past 3 years, and he apparently has major input on expansion plans and capital investment. A workaholic, he “joined ADM in 1971 after receiving a bachelor's degree in business from Northwestern University. At ADM he has worked as a commodity merchandiser in the United States and in Brussels, Belgium. He is said to love trading and he continues to keep a desk on the trading floor at ADM; it is not unusual to spot him there. Mick Andreas is past president of ADM's soybean processing division and has generally supervised ADM's commodity trading and marketing worldwide since 1980.”
1995 June 12 – ADM sells its British Arkady bakery ingredient business to Unilever, but keeps the Haldane Food Group and other parts of British Arkady (Doug Schmalz. 1995. July 19. Personal communication).
1995 Sept. – Construction of increased isolated soy protein capacity was begun at Europoort (The Netherlands) and in the USA. “Low-nitrite ProFam 781 [soy protein isolate] was successfully introduced into the European infant formula market during the past year” (ADM annual report).
1995 Oct. 27 – A long article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Risk averse,” by Scott Kilman et al. states that ADM is a major beneficiary of federal price supports for sugar (they make ADM's high-fructose corn sugar an economical product) and of the 54-cent-a-gallon excise tax break on ethanol (since ADM is the dominant producer of the corn-based fuel additive). Mr. Andreas helps preserve these twin towers of legislative largesse by hedging. ADM leads corporate America in contributing to both political parties. "Since 1981, the company has given more than $800,000 to the Democratic Party and more than 1.5 million to the GOP" (Republican Party).
Pie charts show that ADM is the market leader in four major U.S. markets, controlling an estimated 35% of all corn refining , 31% of high-fructose corn syrup, 28% of oilseed [manly soybean] processing (followed by Cargill 25%, Bunge 16%, Ag Processors 14%, Central Soya 10%, and others 7%), and 26% of wheat milling.
1996 Jan. – The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating ADM for antitrust violations. The company is facing a shareholder revolt, and demands for a board of directors with less insider influence (Wall Street Journal. 1996. Jan. 16).
1996 Oct. – A sweeping federal investigation leads to a $100 million fine for price fixing against ADM – a record penalty in a criminal antitrust case at the time. ADM was alleged to have been involved in an international scheme to fix the prices of lysine and citric acid, however ADM never admitted wrongdoing. Of the $100 million, $70 million was in connection with lysine and $30 in connection with citric acid (Wall Street Journal. 1996. Oct. 15, p. A3; Standard & Poor’s stock report on ADM. 1997. Jan. 11; New York Times. 2000. Dec. 24 and 2016. Nov. 16).
1996 – ADM changes its top management structure from having a CEO to having a four-person Office of the Chief Executive. With Dwayne Andreas, the team includes ADM President James Randall; Charles Bayless, president of ADM’s soybean division; and G. Allen Andreas, counsel to the board’s executive committee and a nephew of Dwayne Andreas (Herald & Review. 1999. March 7. “Life Line”).
1997 April 18 – Dwayne Andreas, age 79, is surrendering his long-held post as CEO to a nephew, G. Allen Andreas, age 53. Andreas will continue as chairman but ADM officials expect him to play a much diminished role in the company he has run since 1970. Mr. Andreas said he was willing to give up this position in part because he hasn't directly supervised ADM's daily operations for years; rather he has concentrated on mapping ADM's long term strategy (Wall Street Journal, p. B17 (West); Steve Buchheim. 1997. Personal communication).
1997 Nov. – ADM introduces Novasoy (soy isoflavones).
1999 Jan. (winter) – ADM Nutrition & Health Update, a glossy 4-6 page newsletter, starts to be published by ADM’s Nutraceutical Division. Two months earlier the U.S. FDA had issued its Soy Health Claim.
1999 Jan. 25 – Dwayne Andreas’ request to step down as chairman of the board is accepted by the ADM board of directors. He will remain on the board and serve as chairman emeritus. G. Allen Andreas (nephew of Dwayne Andreas) is chosen by the board to replace Dwayne as chairman of the board (Herald & Review. 1999. March 7; New York Times. 2000. Dec. 24).
1999 April – ADM introduces Pro Fam isolated soy proteins. “This is the first of a new generation of purified soy protein products. Very low flavor, very low odor, and protein functionality greater by a magnitude than anything else available” (ADM spec. sheet).
1999 July 12 – Michael D. Andreas, age 50 and son of ADM chief Dwayne Andres, is sentenced to 2 years in jail and fined $350,000 (Wall Street Journal. p. A4).
Michael Andreas' term was later extended by a year after the government appealed. Before his conviction, Andreas was considered the heir apparent to his father, ADM chairman, Dwayne Andreas (Chicago Tribune. 2001. Dec. 20. "Andreas released to halfway house”).
2001 Dec. – Dwayne Andreas retires from ADM’s board of directors, after having been on that board for 35 years. He agrees to serve as chairman emeritus (ADM this quarter: First quarter report to shareholders. 1 page insert).
2000 – ADM partners with Wilmar International Ltd. to construct five soybean crushing plants in China (World Grain. 2003. May. p. 12).
2001 June – ADM unveils a new corporate logo designed to underscore the company's deep commitment to nature and global agriculture. The matching tagline is “The Nature of Things to Come.”
ADM pays its 300th cash dividend and 280th consecutive quarterly payment, a record of seventy years of uninterrupted stock dividends (ADM Nutrition and Health Update. 2001. Vol. 3, No. 1).
2001 – Paul B. Mulhollem becomes president of ADM. Under his guidance, the company was the first U.S. company to sign a contract with Cuba since the embargo against Cuba was imposed October 1960 (“So You Want to Buy a President.” 1996. Frontline on PBS).
2002 – In his PhD dissertation Van H. Pho writes (p. 63-73) a case study of ADM. The centerpiece of this study is Table 5 titled "Summary of Archer-Daniels-Midland business activity" (July 1923 to July 1998).
2006 May – Patricia A. Woertz is named CEO and President of ADM. (ADM website). Before coming to ADM she was with Chevron (Chicago Tribune, 2014. Nov. 6).
2006 Dec. 8 – The Haldane Foods Group is acquired by The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. from ADM for about $10.1 million. At the time of acquisition Haldane's brands include Realeat frozen foods, Granose, Direct Foods and Realeat dry mixes, and Granose non-dairy beverages (Hain Celestial annual report. 2007).
2011 – ADM is named the world’s most admired food production company by Fortune magazine for three consecutive years: 2009, 2010, and 2011 (ADM news release. 2011, March 3)
2013 Aug. – ADM moves its global headquarters to downtown Chicago (Chicago Tribune. 2014. Nov. 6).
2014 July 7 – ADM buys ingredients company Wild Flavors for about $3 billion (Chicago Tribune).
2016 Nov. 16 – “Dwayne O. Andreas, who turned Archer Daniels Midland into food giant, dies at 98” – in Decatur, Illinois. An excellent biography and obituary (New York Times, p. B16).