General mills corporate responsibility

Springing forward Springing forward The spring wheat used in Minneapolis mills was brittle and dark. People preferred snowy white flour. For the next 50 years, Minneapolis produced more flour than any place on earth. Share The Mississippi River rushes into an impressive drop over St.

Springing forward Springing forward The spring wheat used in Minneapolis mills was brittle and dark. People preferred snowy white flour. Cadwallader Washburn's miller, George Christian, a little-schooled Alabama native who taught himself four languages, collaborated to improve a machine called the middlings purifier.

For the next 50 years, Minneapolis produced more flour than any place on earth.

Share The Mississippi River rushes into an impressive drop over St. Anthony Falls, fueling water power that was once the lifeblood of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On those river banks ina man named Cadwallader Washburn began what would become General Mills. Five years earlier, insix remarkable Washburn brothers had attended Abraham Lincoln's presidential inauguration.

Abolitionists all, one brother had written Lincoln's campaign biography. Now Lincoln was dead.

Roaring St. Anthony Falls propels an industry

The Civil War over. Like his brothers, Cadwallader Washburn grew up on a rocky little farm in Maine. He had been a farmer, a school teacher, a lawyer, and under Lincoln a major general. Inat 48 years of age, Washburn began building a flour mill at St.

Share Washburn had visited the falls by steamboat before the war. He gasped when he saw it. He realized this was a source of power. If you wanted to power industry in those days, you did it with water. Washburn's B mill eventually rose six stories above the frontier.

It was not only the largest mill west of the Mississippi, but west of Buffalo, New York. People called it "Washburn's Folly. He could not sell it all. Pillsbury's first business venture in Montreal, Canada, had failed.

But the year-old had some cash in his pocket when he arrived in Minnesota in A New Hampshire native—born to the same modest circumstances as Washburn—Pillsbury and his father purchased interest in a run-down flour mill on the opposite river bank.

The Pillsbury family had no experience in milling flour, which was deemed to be an unstable business with questionable profits.

Pillsbury's best Pillsbury's best A XXX symbol in medieval days indicated superior flour reserved for communion ceremonies. Charles Pillsbury decided in that his flour was the best. So he added a fourth "X. Yet Pillsbury turned a profit in the first year.

Springing forward

Unexpected fame soon followed Pillsbury. Pillsbury and his partners parlayed a single time-worn mill into one of the world's larger flour empires. His competitor, Cadwallader Washburn—who had built a second, bigger mill—was flourishing, too.

The orphanage The Orphanage After the explosion of his mill Cadwallader Washburn endowed an orphanage to serve children "without question or distinction to age, sex, race, color or religion.

Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a Thursday evening in May following a shift change. The thrum of people heading home to dinner was interrupted when the Washburn A flour mill on the banks of the Mississippi River caught fire, then exploded.

The force scattered debris for blocks. The "big mill" as locals called it—"justly the pride of Minneapolis," according to a news story—was only four years old. Two millstones running dry had caused a spark. Flour dust was explosive under certain conditions.

General Mills - Making Food People Love

Plenty of flour dust danced through the massive A Mill. It stood seven stories high. About men worked there, making the A Mill one of the city's larger employers.From flour to submarines, from toys to restaurants, for us at General Mills it's been more than years of making food with passion and treating the world with care.

General Mills: A U.S.-based food company. We serve the world by making food people love, providing quality brands in more than countries on six continents. Robert McKeracher serves as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SunOpta overseeing all financial reporting, compliance and corporate treasury activities.

General Mills Foundation: Today, more than 60 years after our Foundation was officially formed, our commitment to our communities remains unwavering. Since , we have fueled more than half a billion dollars in support to nonprofit organizations in our communities.

General Mills: A U.S.-based food company.

General Mills - Making Food People Love

We serve the world by making food people love, providing quality brands in more than countries on six continents. Oct 23,  · About Our Blog “A Taste of General Mills” is the official company blog of General Mills. Our blog seeks to provide unique perspectives on news and behind-the-scenes stories from General Mills’ businesses and brands around the world.