Archer Daniels Midland 2007 Annual Report Download - page 5

areas of focus and investment: diversifying feedstocks, expanding our geographic footprint, advancing BioEnergy projects, and
expanding our technology platform as a critical catalyst for all our efforts.
We pursued this strategy, with vigor and discipline.
We advanced our BioEnergy projects in the U.S. and Brazil, two of the largest markets for biofuels.
Our Nebraska ethanol plant, and the cogeneration plant that will provide it a cost-effective energy source, are moving
toward completion in 2008, and the Iowa ethanol plant is scheduled to be on line by August 2009. When complete,
these plants will increase our U.S. ethanol capacity to 1.65 billion gallons annually, maintaining our position as the largest
producer of ethanol in the country.
These dry-mill plants, located adjacent to existing wet-mill corn processing plants, exemplify the unique and sustainable
advantages ADM holds in BioEnergy. The largest ethanol units in the industry, these plants will be fed by our vast, estab-
lished origination network, will access existing infrastructure, including the largest ethanol transportation system in the
industry and our extensive ethanol terminal network, and will link to our global market for animal feed co-products.
We opened two new biodiesel plants in the U.S. and one in Brazil. To support growing demand for vegetable oil for fuel and
food needs, we are expanding oilseed crushing capacity at five North American plants.
As we position our company for BioEnergy leadership, we understand that the future of our company—and the future of
sustainable, renewable fuels—goes beyond here-and-now products, such as today’s ethanol and biodiesel. We are evaluat-
ing the myriad possible combinations of potential feedstock platforms, conversion technologies and finished products to
define the well-focused list of combinations—or roadmap—to which we will commit research and development funding.
To advance these efforts, we hired a new chief technology officer, and entered some innovative research alliances, including
one with Purdue University to further the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol and one with ConocoPhillips to identify
and commercialize second-generation biofuels.
ADM’s competitive strength, our unique position, derives from our history, expertise and capabilities in serving global needs
for both fuel and food, and our strategic direction clearly affirms our intention to do both.
In 2007, we announced plans to build a research and development center in Hamburg, Germany, to explore new food and
oleochemical technologies, as well as drive improvement and process efficiencies for existing technologies. With this new
R&D facility supplementing our current capabilities, we will be better positioned to serve our European food and BioEnergy
customers.
We modified our Netherlands’ soybean crushing facility to process both rapeseed and soybeans, and we built a palm oil
refinery at our facility in Hamburg, Germany, which is Europe’s largest refinery capable of simultaneously refining rapeseed,
soy and palm oils.
Our cocoa processing facility in Pennsylvania is progressing on schedule, with a first phase scheduled to be operational in
first quarter 2008 and the entire project on line in January 2009. We continue to see opportunity in this segment, and last
year acquired Classic Couverture, a U.K.-based chocolate manufacturer. The acquisition provides us an expanded platform
for industrial chocolate manufacturing. To supply our growing, global customer needs, we announced plans to build a cocoa
processing facility in Kumasi, Ghana. This state-of-the-art facility will diversify and expand our global cocoa origination and
processing operations into a strategically important location.
G r o w i n g O p p o r t u n i t y – B u i l d i n g V a l u e
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