Cargill joined dozens of other companies and governments at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York Tuesday, pledging to fight deforestation.

The pledge aims at slowing, halting or even reversing global forest losses, while still enhancing food security – i.e. growing lots of crops, which requires lots of land. It's a tough balance:

"We are proud of our track record tackling deforestation," Cargill's CEO David MacLennan said Tuesday during an appearance at the U.N. Climate Summit, according to a Cargill press statement. "Today, I am here to say that we are going to do more."

Minnetonka-based Cargill, a global agribusiness colossus, has had to mainly tackle deforestation issues through its palm oil and soybean businesses.

Environmentalists have long criticized the palm oil industry, which is based primarily in Southeast Asia, for destroying forests in order to build plantations. However, Cargill and several other companies have made efforts to produce environmentally sustainable palm oil.

At the climate summit Tuesday, MacLennan is announcing that Cargill plans to make its palm oil supply chains in Indonesia and Malaysia fully sustainable

Cargill will sign the "Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge" at the U.N. summit, which is aimed at strengthening the palm oil industry's commitments to sustainability. Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to oversee the signing.