Archer-Daniels Midland Co: Disclosure of Regenerative Agriculture Outcomes

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WHEREAS:  Industrial agriculture applies over one billion pounds of synthetic pesticides annually to farms, directly threatening the resilience and yield stability of agricultural supply chains.[1] Pesticides decrease soil fertility by killing soil microorganisms vital for nutrient, water, and soil retention. Soil degradation and erosion reduce food security, imposing an estimated loss of $8 billion annually to global GDP.[2] These losses become more material as climate change increases the frequency, and impact to global food suppliers, of droughts, floods, storms, and heatwaves.

Agricultural pesticides can also cause long-term health impacts to farm workers and fenceline communities, including asthma, cancer, and birth defects, while also resulting in the acute poisoning of 25 million farm workers annually.[3] Further, use of pesticides directly harms biodiversity, including pollinators critical to 35% of crop production, and contributes to air and water pollution.[4] 

In contrast, regenerative agriculture is a farming system that reduces mass use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and includes reduced tillage, crop rotation, cover cropping, and natural pest management. These practices, used together, preserve soil health and retain topsoil, while reducing impacts to humans and the environment.[5]

The Rodale Institute reports that regenerative agriculture can sequester more carbon annually than is emitted.[6] Failure to address pesticide dependency, however, diminishes regenerative farming’s potential to sequester carbon and deliver measurable climate and financial returns.[7]

While Archer-Daniels Midland (“ADM”)’s Corporate Sustainability report states an intent to expand its regenerative agriculture program to achieve Scope 3 reduction goals, it does not identify pesticide reduction as an essential component for achieving its goal, nor does it report pesticide reduction data to disclose progress in achieving all regenerative outcomes. This represents an important blind spot for the Company and investors and raises the potential for claims of greenwashing.

Other major food companies, including Lamb Weston, Conagra, and McCain Foods, publicly measure and report pesticide reduction within their regenerative agriculture programs to demonstrate progress and accountability.[8]

As a major global food supplier, ADM’s inadequate reporting creates a chain reaction across the agricultural and food manufacturing sectors. Other multinational corporations rely on ADM’s disclosures to evaluate their own supply chain impacts and sustainability performance. Consequently, ADM’s failure to measure and report pesticide reduction not only undermines the credibility of its own regenerative agriculture claims but also risks misleading the broader marketplace and compromising the accuracy of other companies’ disclosures.

In a competitive marketplace that increasingly demands clean food, greenhouse gas reduction, and reduced human and environmental harm, measuring and disclosing pesticide use 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 ADM issue a report, at reasonable expense and omitting proprietary information, disclosing if and how the Company can incorporate pesticide use data reporting in its regenerative agriculture program disclosures.

Resolution Details

Company: Archer-Daniels Midland Co

Lead Filers:
As You Sow

Year: 2026

Filing Date: 
November 2025

Initiative(s): Regenerative Agriculture

Status: Filed

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Environmental HealthAs You SowEnvironmental Health, environmental health, regenerative agriculture, Regenerative Agriculture, regenerative, Regenerative, Pesticides, agriculture, Archer Daniels Midland, Archer-Daniels Midland, ADM