Here in the Midwest, where I live and work, there's an old rhyme about field corn being "knee-high by the fourth of July." It is not really true, at least in the modern era - corn stalks in a typical year would be 4 of 5 feet tall by early July. As I drive past the farm fields on my daily commute, I'd peg this year's corn in my area to be around 6 feet or taller here at the end of July. After 2019's rains really messed up plantings around the region and delayed harvesting, it is good to see healthy-looking crops on schedule. My local economy may not be as tied to agriculture as it used to be, but it is still a point of pride (there is a small controversy in my town brewing because the county 4-H fair was just cancelled due to the virus). Economically, hefty or not, we should never take the food we eat for granted, and this is where a company like Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) can come into consideration for an investor's portfolio.
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Archer-Daniels-Midland is a titan in the agri-business world, transforming American farmers' crops, and really crops from almost every continent, into the products that food manufacturers use every day - whether crushing corn and beans for oil or dry products like cornmeal or sweeteners that may go into your breads or breakfast cereals. The graham cracker I am snacking on as I write paragraph may well have ingredients that wound their way through an ADM facility on their way to my kitchen cupboard. It is massive operation worldwide, regularly doing $60 billion or more in annual revenue, with a hand in agriculture, energy, and animal and human nutrition. It was an addition to my portfolio in 2019, and it has done well for me so far in 2020. Three months ago, I was
