Who's Who in the Fight Against Global Hunger

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Apr 11, 2009 at 15:38:51 PM PDT

Also - about the question the Monsanto employees raised about how their company stood to profit from this bill. While the bill specifically does not SAY that any money will go to Monsanto, the Chicago Council's plan calls for USAID to take the lead on global hunger and mentions public-private partnerships. Monsanto is already involved in one such public-private partnership with USAID in Kenya. So it's not too much of a stretch to imagine they would be included in whatever may come of this bill.

Robert Paarlberg
He's an advisor to the CEO of Monsanto and at the Senate hearing about S.384 he was a strong advocate for chemical agriculture and GMOs as a means to help global hunger. He's also been working on projects commissioned by the Gates Foundation. You can see his plan for a new Green Revolution here (on the Monsanto website).

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
One of the leading voices in calling for a second Green Revolution is the Chicago Council. The report they produced that they presented to the Senate Foreign Relations committee with recommendations for the bill S.384 was funded by the Gates Foundation. They have individual funders as well as corporate funders, but the corporate funders are listed on the site. Here's the list:

CORPORATE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL $20,000 +
Abbott Laboratories
American International Group, Inc.
Aon Corporation
Archer Daniels Midland Company
Baxter International Inc.
Best Buy Co., Inc.
The Boeing Company
Careerbuilder, LLC
Caterpillar Inc.
Exelon Corporation
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Illinois Tool Works Inc.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kraft Foods Inc.
McDonald's Corporation
Motorola, Inc.
Northern Trust Corporation
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
United Airlines
W.W. Grainger, Inc.

CORPORATE MEMBERS

$15,000 to $19,999
A.T. Kearney, Inc.
CME Group
Corn Products International, Inc.
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Henry Crown and Company
HSBC - North America
Mayer Brown LLP
McKinsey & Company
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
UOP LLC
William Blair & Company

$10,000 to $14,999
ArcelorMittal
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Deere & Company
Global Hyatt Corporation
Jones Day
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Mitsubishi International Corporation
Molex Incorporated
Qatar Airways
Tata Sons Limited
Valmont Industries, Inc.
Wheels Inc.

Up to $9,999
AAR Corporation
The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
BP America Inc.
Chicago Board Options Exchange
Edelman
Egon Zehnder International
Epstein
Evans Food Group, Ltd.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest
Harris N.A.
Hollister Incorporated
Hudson
JETRO, Chicago
Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc.
Lizard Investors LLC
MacLean-Fogg Company
Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.
Monsanto Company
Navistar, Inc.
Old World Industries, Inc.
Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Rosenthal Collins Group, LLC
RR Donnelley
S&C Electric Company
State Farm Insurance Companies
Vantage Leadership Consulting

Bread for the World
They call themselves a Christian voice for ending hunger. They are also recipients of a $499,419 grant from the Gates Foundation. They support the Chicago Council's plan for helping global hunger.

Oxfam
Oxfam is well known in the fight against hunger. While they might mean well, I'm not crazy about their single-minded outlook on the world. They recognize the problem of America dumping cheap commodities on the world market but they want to solve the problem by ending America's subsidies altogether. I'd prefer to see a solution to the problem that won't take away our farmers' safety net and I think it can be done. They have also received money from the Gates Foundation and they are currently using the S.384 bill as a fundraiser for their organization.