FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 11, 2024
Contact: media@consumersresearch.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Consumers’ Research sent a letter to Congress, warning that the same individuals who have crippled America’s financial sector and energy industry by forcing environment, social, and governance (ESG) schemes have now set their sights on American farmers and ranchers. Consumers’ Research is calling on leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to keep the farm in the Farm Bill and ensure America’s food security is protected from ESG policies in the final draft of the 2024 Farm Bill.

The letter is part of a public awareness campaign calling out the push to force the agriculture industry to adopt arbitrary ESG measures. Forced divestments from our domestic energy industry by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, and other members of the pro-ESG elite class have radically inflated prices and made operating a farm crushingly expensive, while bureaucrats motivated by the politics behind ESG considerations bury farmers under regulatory red tape. The campaign features testimonies from American farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods have been directly impacted by ESG.

“ESG has already wreaked havoc on the American economy. Billions of dollars of retirement funds and managed assets have been redirected to ESG-focused investments by behemoth asset management firms like BlackRock, while forcing climate extremism on energy companies – coupled with the Biden Administration’s foolish anti-energy policies – has caused an energy and inflationary crisis not seen in this country since the 1970s,” said Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers’ Research. “Now, that deadly combination of forced behavior and burdensome regulation threatens America’s food supply. The Farm Bill is a golden opportunity to reverse course and stave off yet another round of economic devastation, but only if our elected officials are willing to take action.”

The full campaign includes:

• A letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Committee on Agriculture and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry urging that the final Farm Bill includes languages that protects farmers from ESG policies.
• Mobile billboards in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Charlotte, North Carolina raising awareness of the danger ESG policies pose to agriculture.
• A Times Square Billboard
• A TV ad in the New York and DC markets.
• A digital ad highlighting how ESG practices and radical climate agendas have hurt farmers globally.
• A new website, ESGKillsFarms.com, which will host the video testimonies and other educational information on the danger ESG poses to America’s food supply.
• Four video testimonies from American producers who have seen the negative impacts of ESG:
  • Video testimony from Charlie Masters, Kentucky family farmer
  • Video testimony from Stephanie Nash, Tennessee family farmer
  • Video testimony from Rod Schatz, California family farmer
  • Video interview with Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper.

About Consumers’ Research:
Consumers’ Research is an independent educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase the knowledge and understanding of issues, policies, products, and services of concern to consumers and to promote the freedom to act on that knowledge and understanding. Consumers’ Research believes that the cost, quality, availability, and variety of goods and services used or desired by American consumers — from both the private and public sectors — are improved by greater consumer knowledge and freedom.