March 21, 2017

Throughout the world, millions of people, regardless of their region, age, social standing or profession, come into contact with products supplied by Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), shortly after waking up.

Maybe it’s the cotton in their favorite t-shirt or their sheets, or the oil extracts in their face cream and shampoo. It might be later, around the breakfast table, with a refreshing glass of orange juice, a bowl of cereal, complete with milk and sugar, or that first, energizing cup of coffee. Or perhaps it’s later still, as they open a tin of food for their household pet, and then rely on copper wiring in their home to switch off the lights before heading out to work.

Wherever you are in the world, our products are likely to play a role in several parts of your day. But before they make it to your home or your plate, their life cycle runs right through our network, from the moment a seedling is nestled into the soil, to the day when you pick a product off a supermarket shelf. It may sound simple in those words, but that journey – which we call “from farm to fork” – is really much more complex, involving strict processes and facilitated by many people.

Let’s start at the very beginning of that journey: on the farm.

Growing

Either on our own farms, or working in partnership with trusted suppliers, we grow crops with care, not only for the quality of a grain, bean or fruit, but also for the protection and benefit of the environment and the local community. Some of our partners have worked with us for more than half a century. Together, we work hand-in-hand to produce the finest raw materials, ethically and sustainably.

Processing

Once harvested, crops are transported to our assets for the next stage of their journey, in which they are processed and refined, coming one step closer to the products you might recognize and buy. Oranges are squeezed, coffee beans are dried and washed, grains are threshed and cleaned, cotton is ginned, and so on.

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Distributing

After processing, products are handed over to our distribution network. State-of-the-art warehouses and silos are used to store processed products under optimum conditions until they’re ready to be transported onward. This step gives us the flexibility and scale to guarantee reliable supply for our customers. Trucks, trains, barges or ships then transport millions of tons of our products each year to a range of customers around the world – from large multinationals to local manufacturers. Now ready to be toasted, roasted, blended, pressed, kneaded, spun, woven and more, these products are the essential building blocks of all the goods that bring us daily sustenance and comfort.

For more information on our supply chain, please visit our website. You can also see our full product portfolio here.

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