Cargill collaborates with farmers, food makers and industrial customers to bring new ideas to the table.

Living Lands & Waters

 

Watch the Cargill employees volunteer for Living Lands & Waters floating classroom video.
More than 40 Cargill employees help LL&W sort nearly 10,000 pounds of collected trash and recyclables.

1 September 2011
On Thursday, September 1, Living Lands & Waters (LL&W), a long-time partner with Cargill, previewed its new floating classroom barge on the Mississippi River in St. Paul. The 150-foot barge features a handicapped-accessible classroom that can host up to 60 students at a time, as well as sleeping quarters for the eight-person LL&W crew. The primary goal of the floating classroom is to give participants – specifically young people – the tools and experience to understand the diverse value of the river and the need to preserve and protect our natural resources. This classroom will bring kids of all ages on board for workshops on a variety of topics related to their studies in history, biology and economics among others, using the river as a teaching tool. Each workshop will be customized with the teacher to correspond with in-class curriculum. LL&W staff and classroom members will also participate in river clean-ups during their day-long journey on the river.

The floating classroom was made possible by the generous support of five LL&W partners: Cargill, ADM, AEP River Operations, Caterpillar, and Ingram Barge Company, as well as several unions whose members donated many hours of labor to help complete this project in time for the upcoming school year. Cargill has partnered with LL&W since 1999. In addition to funding the floating classroom and annual support for the organization’s operating needs, Cargill employees volunteer with the crew for river cleanups and tree planting projects in the communities where Cargill has operations along the major rivers. An employee from Cargill’s grain transportation business currently sits on the LL&W board of directors.

During LL&W’s visit, more than 40 volunteers helped the LL&W crew sort trash previously collected in and around the river. The LL&W garbage barge was traveling with over 70,000 pounds of trash. With Cargill employee volunteers’ help, a significant stride was made towards LL&W’s goal of recycling more than 70 percent of the total waste. During the two-hour event, volunteers recycled nearly 5,000 pounds of trash plus properly disposed of 4,740 pounds of trash, for a grand total of more than 9,700 pounds of debris removed from the Mississippi River.