Land O’Lakes

Purina Mills
Minnesota
Food Beverage and Tobacco

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Caution
Medium Risk

Land O'Lakes, a food manufacturer, vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies and does not provide its employees with protections against viewpoint discrimination. It has not publicly terminated business relationships based on views or beliefs, though. The company also covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care" for its employees and their children. Land O'Lakes changed its logo in response to activist pressure. Land O'Lakes discriminates against certain religious organizations in its charitable giving, and is a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. The company is a signatory of the Business Roundtable's 2019 Statement on the Purpose of Corporation, which promotes stakeholder capitalism. However, it has not used its PAC contributions for ideological purposes. For these reasons, Land O'Lakes receives a Medium Risk rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

Land O’Lakes has not publicly fired customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs. The company received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign. Among other requirements, this means Land O’Lakes has pledged to vet vendors based on LGBTQ policies (1)(2).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Land O’Lakes’ charitable giving guidelines require that organizations abide by its nondiscrimination policy, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, thereby excluding some religious charities (1).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Land O’Lakes does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

In April 2020, Land O’Lakes changed its logo to remove an image of a Native American woman in response to activist pressure (1). CEO Beth Ford is a member of the Business Roundtable and signed its 2019 Statement on the Purpose of Corporation, which promotes stakeholder capitalism over traditional obligations to shareholders and customers (2)(3).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Land O’Lakes has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (1)(2). Land O’Lakes is a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (3).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

Land O’Lakes has not used its political contributions for ideological purposes (1)(2).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 5, 2023

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