USSEC member Archer Daniels Midland Co., among the world's largest traders of crops, has committed to a policy to fight deforestation by soy and palm oil suppliers.
ADM is an U.S. global food-processing and commodities-trading corporation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.  The company operates more than 270 plants and 420 crop procurement facilities worldwide, where oilseeds and cereal grains are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial, and animal feed markets worldwide.  Their products and services include oils and meal from soybeans and other seeds, oilseed processing and agricultural services.
ADM buys all of its soy and almost all of its palm oil from third parties. Under the new policy, ADM "commits to build traceable and transparent agricultural supply chains that protect forests worldwide," the company said.
ADM's move comes as global agricultural companies move toward more sustainable practices.
For its soy operations, ADM will apply a set of standards to its suppliers and will work with third-party inspectors to ensure growers meet those rules.  The inspectors "will assess growers based on their adherence to a broad set of social, environmental, legal and agronomic standards, including their labor practices, water and soil usage, solid waste management, observance of land rights, legal compliance, and the responsible use of fertilizers," ADM said.
The company already participates in a program in Brazil, the world's second-biggest soy producer, which embargoes soy produced on farms where satellite surveillance determines land has been cleared for crops.
USSEC launched an official sustainability certification for U.S. Soy that provides exporters with verification that the soy products they sell on the world market are raised in a sustainable manner in 2013.