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mid extreme uncertainty and anxiety about trade wars and violent conflicts, food is one of the few certainties for investors. Whatever comes of President Trump’s attempt to broker peace in Ukraine, people will still need to eat.
But even such dependable demand does not explain why, when one of the world’s biggest agricultural commodities groups issued a profits warning, its share price surged 6 per cent higher that day. The explanation is rooted in one of the most widely used but rarely discussed forms of renewable power, bio-fuels, and illustrates stark differences between the way that America and Britain treat farmers and other businesses.
You might never have heard of Archer Daniels Midland (stock market ticker: ADM) but you have almost certainly eaten some of the corn, soybeans and wheat this $28 billion (£21 billion) giant trades around the globe. Less happily, ADM also illustrates the wisdom of Warren Buffett’s dictum: “Try to invest in businesses which are so wonderful that an idiot can run them, because — sooner or later — one will.”
The chief finance officer was stood down suddenly in January last year after this business announced an “investigation regarding certain accounting practices with respect to ADM’s Nutrition segment … in response to a request by the Securities and Exchange Commission”.
