Deere & Company, also known as John Deere, is asking the SEC for the go-ahead to omit a shareholder proposal from its 2025 proxy statement that seeks information about the impact of the firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts.
The proposal, filed by As You Sow, asks Deere to ‘report publicly on the effectiveness of its efforts to create a meritocratic workplace where no one is excluded from contributing to the company’s success because of an immutable characteristic, such as gender, race or ethnicity. The report should… provide transparency on outcomes using quantitative metrics for workforce diversity, hiring, promotion and retention of employees, including data by gender, race and ethnicity.’
As You Sow writes that in July of this year Deere ‘announced an ambiguous and inconsistent shift in policies and practices regarding its workplace diversity strategy. If the company has dismantled key [DE&I] policies and practices, this exposes it to financial, competitive, legal and reputational risks.’
The shareholder advocacy group writes that Deere had previously made public statements on the importance of its DE&I efforts, including in its 2023 proxy statement. It adds that Deere has not yet disclosed ‘sufficient hiring, retention or promotion data to allow investors to determine the effectiveness of its [DE&I] programs’ and says the company is falling behind peers that are releasing more diversity and inclusion data.
‘Without data on the outcomes of its workplace equity efforts, investors will lack confidence in Deere’s ability to build, use and maintain an effective and meritocratic workforce,’ As You Sow says.
The announcement As You Sow refers to was posted to X, formerly Twitter. In it, the company wrote that ‘based on ongoing conversations’ it will ‘no longer participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals or events.’ It also said the company was committed to:
• ‘Auditing all company-mandated training materials and policies to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages, while being in compliance with federal, state and local laws’
• ‘Reaffirming within the business that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.’
It added: ‘We fundamentally believe that a diverse workforce enables us to best meet our customers’ needs and because of that we will continue to track and advance the diversity of our organization.’
Deere’s announcement came in a year when several major US companies have faced pressure from conservatives over their DE&I policies.
No-action request
Deere has filed a no-action request with the SEC arguing that it should be allowed to exclude the proposal because, per Rule 14a-8(i)(11), it ‘substantially duplicates another proposal previously submitted to the company.’
The company states that several days before receiving As You Sow’s filing it received a proposal from the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative group that files anti-ESG shareholder resolutions. The NLPC proposal asks Deere to ‘produce a report on statistical differences in hiring across race and gender globally and/or by country, where appropriate, including associated policy, reputational, competitive, operational risks and risks related to recruiting and retaining talent.’
Deere & Co filed its 2024 proxy statement on January 10 and held its AGM on February 28.
A request for comment from the company was not returned immediately.
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
