After graduating from Ohio State University in 1954, Amstutz joined Cargill, where he began in grain trading, eventually heading the wheat desk. He played a lead role in establishing Cargill Investor Services, of which he was president and CEO. He was persuaded to join Goldman Sachs by its top management who, having bought a metals trading company, were looking for someone to provide direction about ways to operate in futures. From 1983 to 1987, he was Under Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs, then served as Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for Agriculture during the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade talks from 1987 to 1989. Amstutz founded the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, which eliminated tariffs and greatly reduced federal price supports for American small farms, causing farmers to go bankrupt.
Iraqi Occupation
From April to September 2003, Amstutz led the U.S. Government’s agriculture reconstruction efforts in Iraq, serving as U.S. Senior Ministry Advisor for Agriculture. Given Amstutz's strong ties to U.S. multinational grain-trading companies, this appointment by the George W. Bush administration provoked criticism. The Guardian reported on a criticism from the development and humanitarian group Oxfam. According to the paper,
"Kevin Watkins, Oxfam's policy director, said Mr Amstutz would 'arrive with a suitcase full of open-market rhetoric', and was more likely to try to dump cheap US grain on the potentially lucrative Iraqi market than encourage the country to rebuild its once-successful agricultural sector. Putting Dan Amstutz in charge of agricultural reconstruction in Iraq is like putting Saddam Hussein in the chair of a human rights commission...This guy is uniquely well-placed to advance the commercial interests of American grain companies and bust open the Iraqi market - but singularly ill-equipped to lead a reconstruction effort in a developing country.
Criticism of the Amstutz appointment was also made in the House of Lords, where it was asked "why this decision was made in preference to appointing one of the experienced agricultural development specialists available within the United Nations system."
Lobbying
From 1992 to 1995, Amstutz served as executive director of the International Grains Council in London, England. During his tenure, Amstutz expanded the council's coverage beyond wheat to rice and coarse grains, he launched the annual grain conferences, and he set a path for expanding the membership. From 1995 to 2000, Amstutz served as executive director of the North American Export Grain Association. At NAEGA, he lobbied for U.S. policies meant to foster growth in exporting and lobbied the U.S. Congress to push for less lenient regulations overseas of GMO foods, particularly in Europe. Amstutz attempted to establish his own consulting company in the midst of the Dot-com bubble.
