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Archer Daniels Midland

American global food processing and commodities trading corporation

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ632694
Source-derived summary

The Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, commonly known as ADM, is an American multinational food processing and commodities trading corporation founded in 1902 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

ADM ranked No. 35 in the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations.

The company also provides agricultural storage and transportation services. The American River Transportation Company along with ADM Trucking, Inc., are subsidiaries of ADM.

ADM has been the subject of significant media attention and infamy over the years with its various scandals, one inspiring a novel and subsequent film The Informant!.

History

Early history

In 1902, John W. Daniels started a linseed crushing business in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

George A. Archer joined the operation the next year, and in 1905 the firm's name officially became the Archer-Daniels Linseed Company. In 1923, Archer-Daniels Linseed Company acquired Midland Linseed Products Company and then incorporated as the Archer Daniels Midland Company. The new corporation had total assets exceeding $11 million and controlled just over a third (35%) of the total linseed mill capacity within the United States.

In 1924, ADM was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Archer Daniels Midland” is american global food processing and commodities trading corporation. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Archer, Daniels and Midland, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1902, 2023, 1905, 1923—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1902-01-01. For this dossier, Archer, Daniels and Midland is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american global food processing and commodities trading corporation” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q632694. VIAF identifies the subject as 136673066. The Library of Congress control number is n85054837. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1902, 2023, 1905 and 1923.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Archer Daniels Midland”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Archer Daniels Midland primary sources, Archer Daniels Midland archive and Archer research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Archer Daniels Midland”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Archer Daniels Midland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.