Crop Giant ADM’s Nutrition Bet Pays Off With Health in Focus

  • ADM earnings beat all analyst estimates in second quarter
  • Brazil farmer sales, falling real helped propel exports

Corn is harvested in Princeton, Illinois.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., one of the world’s top agricultural commodity traders, is proving that a move into nutrition is helping boost profits as the pandemic drives consumer to make more healthy choices.

The nutrition division gained 35% from a year earlier on strong sales of products including probiotics, fibers and plant-based proteins, the company said in a statement Wednesday. That, combined with strong farmer sales in Brazil, helped ADM deliver earnings that topped the highest analyst estimate.