ADM, Cargill Agree To Swap Some Elevators

Grain companies Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) have agreed to effectively exchange several grain elevators on the Illinois and Ohio rivers, Reuters reported last week.

Under the deal, ADM will sell Illinois River elevators at Beardstown, Naples and Keithsburg, Ill., to Cargill, while Cargill will sell its elevators at Mount Vernon and Evansville, Ind., on the Ohio River to ADM.

The swap will have the effect of reducing competition for farmers’ grain in some of the markets, Reuters reported. The Evansville elevator that ADM is acquiring is located less than a mile from an existing ADM elevator, while Cargill already has an elevator in New Boston, Ill., which is less than 10 miles from the Keithsburg elevator it will acquire.

The deal is expected to close later this summer.