The Latest
Investing from the ground up
For more than a dozen years, Clean Yield has been investing in local food and regenerative agriculture enterprises. Our commitment to agriculture is rooted in our history as a company founded in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, a place with a strong… Read More >
From sticky to sweet at Tractor Supply (and 2018 Proxy Season Wrap-up)
Concerned about bees? We are too. We see the important role they play in supporting a healthy, sustainable food system. Also, we like honey. Last summer, the Clean Yield team discovered that Tractor Supply Company, a chain of box stores… Read More >
Night School: Values-Based vs. Value Investing
We have long practiced values-based investing. This means investing in companies that offer products or services that are socially beneficial, have ethical business practices and a long-term perspective, emphasize diversity in their executive staff and board of directors, treat their… Read More >
Clean Yield successfully withdraws proposal on political transparency at Alphabet
Clean Yield is pleased to announce the withdrawal of a shareholder proposal filed at Alphabet seeking increased political transparency. Since Clean Yield filed the proposal, Alphabet has meaningfully strengthened its systems for managing political activities. Most notably, the company has… Read More >
#timesup for mandatory arbitration
Amidst the onslaught of news stories about sexual harassment – from Uber to News Corp to the Humane Society – one story caught our eye. In December, Microsoft announced that it was supporting legislation addressing sexual harassment and would end… Read More >
Trophic Cascades and the Push to Be Better
Trophic cascade is the term used by ecologists to describe the impact to an ecosystem of adding or removing a predator at the top of the food chain. A recent example of trophic cascade is seen with the reintroduction of… Read More >
2017 Proxy Season Wrap-up
The 2017 proxy season brought new highs and lows for shareholder advocates. The volume of shareholder voices reached new decibels this year, with record votes in support of climate risk disclosure at major energy companies Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, and… Read More >
Putting Sustainability Oversight Into the CEO’s Job Description
The average corporate CEO makes over $16 million per year. Although the image of the CEO goes hand in hand with office treadmills and bottomless cups of coffee, I sometimes wonder if they are, paradoxically, the most unmotivated people in… Read More >
Grocery Store Giant Commits to Fairer Wages for Farm Laborers
This summer, the parent company of Giant, Stop & Shop, and Peapod, Koninklijke Ahold NV joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) Fair Food Program, in one swoop increasing the number of U.S grocery stores carrying Fair Food tomatoes by… Read More >
A Real Buzzkill: Neonicotinoids
For a couple of weeks each spring, I find a few bumblebees — or their corpses — when I enter my home office in the morning. Massive, buzzing loudly, and flying confusedly about the room, the live ones must be… Read More >
General Mills Updates Pollinator Policies
Clean Yield Asset Management was pleased to withdraw a shareholder proposal at General Mills, co-filed with As You Sow Foundation, after a constructive dialogue resulting additional commitments by the company to support beleaguered pollinator populations. In so doing, General Mills… Read More >
Proxy Music
Readers, grab a cocktail and prepare to hear incredible but true tales from Clean Yield’s 2015 proxy season, a compendium of surprises both pleasant and unpleasant, some outright success stories, ironic twists, and at least one instance of bad luck.… Read More >