Campbell Soup Co: Disclosure of Regenerative Agriculture Outcomes

WHEREAS: Industrial agriculture’s reliance on synthetic pesticide use demonstrably harms soil health, farm resilience, the climate, biodiversity, water quality, and the health of farm workers and nearby communities.

Conventional farms apply over one billion pounds of synthetic pesticides annually, decreasing the populations of soil microorganisms essential to soil carbon sequestration, nutrient and water retention, soil fertility, and farm resilience.[1],[2] Soil degradation and erosion associated with conventional agriculture practices are increasingly reducing food security, with soil erosion alone costing $8 billion annually to global GDP.[3]

Agricultural pesticide use also causes long-term health impacts to farmworkers and fenceline communities, including cancer, birth defects, cognitive impairment, and acute pesticide poisoning, resulting in approximately 11,000 deaths annually.[4]

In contrast, regenerative farming practices that vastly reduce synthetic pesticide use regenerate healthy soils, increase farm resilience and profitability, while reducing impacts on humans and the environment.[5] The Boston Consulting Group finds that farmers using regenerative agriculture practices not only experienced increased resiliency, but gained a 70 to 120 percent profit increase and a return on investment of 15 to 25 percent over 10 years.[6] The Rodale Institute reports that, based on data from farming and pasture trials, regenerative agriculture without synthetic pesticide use can sequester more carbon than is annually emitted.[7]

In 2023, the Campbell Soup Company launched a regenerative agriculture program in which one-third of its tomato suppliers participated, with the goals of scaling up soil health practices, supply chain resiliency, and climate-smart production.[8] However, pesticide reduction is not a component of Campbell’s regenerative agriculture program, nor does the company measure pesticide use by its regenerative suppliers. Its failure to incorporate one of the main components of regenerative farming represents an important blind spot for the company and raises the potential for claims of greenwashing.

In contrast, other major food companies are measuring pesticide reduction achieved through their regenerative agriculture programs:

Lamb Weston measures and publicly reports year-over-year pesticide reduction data, reflecting progress toward its pesticide reduction goal, as part of its regenerative agriculture program.[9]
Conagra measures and publicly reports the amount of pesticides avoided in its carrots, peas, sweet corn, and green beans supply chains through its regenerative agriculture program.[10]
McCain Foods measures pesticide use by its regenerative potato growers through its Regenerative Agriculture Framework Assessment.[11]

In a competitive marketplace that increasingly demands clean food, greenhouse gas reduction, and reduced human and environmental harm, measuring and disclosing supplier use of pesticides as part of a successful regenerative agriculture program can reduce risk for shareholders and our Company, while minimizing harm to stakeholders and ecosystems.

BE IT RESOLVED: Shareholders request that Campbell’s issue a report, at reasonable expense and omitting proprietary information, disclosing if and how the company intends to measure and disclose the effectiveness of its regenerative agriculture program, including pesticide reduction outcomes.

[1] https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-019-0488-0

[2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984095/#:~:text=Heavy%20treatment%20of%20soil%20with,fungi%2C%20then%20the%20soil%20degrades

[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718319343

[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33287770/

[5] https://www.cbf.org/issues/agriculture/regenerative-agriculture.html#:~:text=Minimize%20the%20physical%2C%20biological%2C%20and,resources%20don't%20wash%20away

[6] https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/regenerative-agriculture-profitability-us-farmers#:~:text=Over%20time%2C%20however%2C%20and%20once,to%2025%25%20over%2010%20years

[7] https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/rodale-white-paper.pdf

[8] https://www.thecampbellscompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Corporate-Responsibility-Report.pdf

[9] https://www.lambweston.com/content/dam/lamb-weston/website/en-us/pdf/sustainability/LambWeston_2023_ESG.pdf, p.43

[10] https://www.conagrabrands.com/citizenship-reports/conagra-brands-citizenship-report-2023, p.21

[11] https://www.mccain.com/media/4594/mccain_regenag_framework_2024.pdf

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