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Message From Our Chairperson

In 1851, our founder Léopold Louis-Dreyfus made his first sale of grains – the first step on a journey to help feed and clothe a growing global population sustainably. In 2021, 170 years later, LDC celebrated his vision to provide sustenance to a rapidly changing world – a vision that is alive and in practice to this day. 

Beside an anniversary landmark, 2021 was a year of several milestones. Not least, we opened a new chapter in our Group’s history, with the completion of our partnership agreement with ADQ, whom we welcomed into our shareholder group with a shared vision for LDC’s future. This step, combined with another year of very strong performance, reinforces our position to pursue strategic developments and plans, guided by a common goal: to shape a more sustainable future of food and agricultural production. 

The importance of this goal, and of our mission as a company, was once again underlined in 2021 – and also moving into 2022 – as the ongoing pandemic and climate, geopolitical and other complex challenges drive the increasingly urgent need to shape more sustainable food, feed, fiber and ingredients supply chains – namely through decarbonization and more responsible agriculture, production and consumption, to name a few. 

These actions, which we acknowledge as increasingly urgent and necessary, don’t always take the same form or advance at the same pace everywhere and in every sector – but they all have in common the need for collaboration across stakeholder groups, ensuring that we identify shared solutions to common challenges with fair outcomes for all.  

This principle of partnership is central to LDC’s business model and underpins our strategic decisions, projects and initiatives. 2021 saw many instances of new partnerships forged, and others reinforced, as LDC advanced with its strategic plans – growing existing businesses, investing in new activities and product lines, and embracing innovative technologies and solutions for greater efficiency, safety, transparency and sustainable production and logistics – within the company and across the industry. 

Collaboration is also central to our sustainability framework, which calls for engagement, excellence and inclusion in all our efforts – for example, in the establishment of a dedicated Carbon Solutions Platform and team in 2021, to drive and accelerate LDC’s decarbonization efforts through engagement and collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, including climate experts and business partners. 

LDC also continued its important work with the Louis Dreyfus Foundation and many other partners – customers, suppliers, peers, NGOs and others – to engage farming communities, whose resilience and subsistence is critical for global food security, in adopting more sustainable practices. 

Looking ahead, we will continue to contend with existing as well as new challenges, some driving global shifts and disruptions. In this context, engagement and collaboration will remain crucial as we work closely with our many stakeholders to keep essential products flowing from where they are grown to where they are needed, while ensuring the security and welfare of all who work for and with us. 

For this reason, I thank all our teams globally for the commitment and professionalism that make business continuity and success possible even in complex and rapidly changing circumstances, as well as all our partners around the world for their continued trust and collaboration with LDC, as we work together to shape a better future of food and agriculture.

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus
Group Chairperson

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