{"id":1716,"date":"2026-02-02T18:46:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/new-federal-policy-could-undercut-shareholder-food-activism\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:46:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:46:57","slug":"new-federal-policy-could-undercut-shareholder-food-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/authorwebsitepublishing.xyz\/demo\/new-federal-policy-could-undercut-shareholder-food-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"New Federal Policy Could Undercut Shareholder Food\u00a0Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 2, 2026<\/b> \u2013 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) changed<\/a> an obscure policy last week that could make it much harder for shareholders to pass resolutions that call on companies\u2014including food and agriculture companies\u2014to improve environmental and social outcomes.<\/p>\n

Over the past two decades, shareholder resolutions have been used<\/a> by advocates for change. They have been deployed to force Starbucks to discontinue plastic straws, for example, and to push fast-food chains to reduce antibiotic use and food waste.<\/p>\n

Most recently, shareholders filed<\/a> resolutions requesting companies<\/a> with regenerative agriculture programs\u2014including Campbell\u2019s<\/a>, PepsiCo, and commodity grain giant ADM\u2014to report on how those efforts are reducing pesticide use<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To build support for the resolutions, shareholders often post a memo called a \u201cnotice of exempt solicitation,\u201d which provides details on the issue, before a vote. Going forward, the SEC now says<\/a> it will object to those memos if they come from shareholders with less than $5 million in holdings. SEC officials claim<\/a> that the agency has found a \u201cvast majority\u201d of notices of exempt solicitation in recent years have come from smaller investors, primarily to generate publicity.<\/p>\n

But in a press release, the shareholder advocacy nonprofit As You Sow<\/a> said those notices are critical to investor engagement and transparency and that the SEC is effectively silencing most shareholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunications on material issues central to informed investor decision-making is the underpinning of our free market system,\u201d said As You Sow CEO Andy Behar. \u201cRestricting exempt solicitations to the few largest investors harms the core tenets of capitalism\u2014information and trust between corporations and their beneficial owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, meanwhile, President Donald Trump also issued an executive order<\/a> that could stymie shareholder proposals. (Link to this post.)<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n

The post New Federal Policy Could Undercut Shareholder Food\u00a0Activism<\/a> appeared first on Civil Eats<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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