Today Cargill announced that it's net earnings for the three months ending August 31, 2012 were US$975 million. That's four times more than what it made over the same period last year. The company's big profit numbers came soon after it cut 2,000 jobs — about 1.5 percent of its workforce. Cargill is once again profitting as global food prices escalate. On the day before Cargill's profit announcement, Maplecroft, a company that provides risk advice to corporations and governments, released its annual Food Security Risk Index. According to it's calculations, global food prices shot up by six per cent in July 2012, putting 75% of African countries at high or extreme risk of food insecurity.