Shifting the Market

Friends of the Earth is campaigning for U.S. grocery and garden retailers to phase out pollinator-toxic pesticides and increase organic sales to 15%. The organization benchmarks 25 large retailers and reports that independent stores are currently leading in organic offerings, while warning that pesticide-driven pollinator loss poses significant financial and ecological risks to the food retail sector.

• Friends of the Earth is urging grocery stores to implement three specific actions: establish pollinator protection policies to phase out neonicotinoids, organophosphates, and glyphosate; increase USDA certified organic food and beverage sales to 15% of overall sales with a priority on U.S. farmers; and publicly disclose policies and progress.
• Independent grocery stores are outperforming large U.S. retailers in organic offerings; 94% (34 of 36) of surveyed independent stores exceed the 15% organic sales benchmark, and 64% (23 of 26) report that organic sales account for over 50% of their total sales.
• Pollinators contribute up to $577 billion to the global economy annually, and a report indicates that the U.S. food retail sector's use of pesticides on four specific crops could create $219 billion in financial, climate, and biodiversity risks by 2050.
• Progress has been made among large U.S. grocery stores since 2017, with over half of the companies on the Bee-Friendly Retailer Scorecard establishing pollinator health policies. Specifically, Meijer, Whole Foods, Giant Eagle, Walmart, and Kroger have policies requiring fresh produce suppliers to obtain third-party certifications for Integrated Pest Management.
• In the home and garden sector, over 140 companies, including Lowe's and Home Depot, have eliminated neonicotinoid pesticides from their supply chains after a campaign regarding "bee-friendly" labeled plants.

APA

Friends of the Earth (2025). Shifting the Market. https://foe.org/projects/bee-friendly-retail-campaign/

Chicago

Friends of the Earth. Shifting the Market. 2025. https://foe.org/projects/bee-friendly-retail-campaign/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth |title=Shifting the Market |date=27 August 2025 |url=https://foe.org/projects/bee-friendly-retail-campaign/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearth2025shifting, author = {{Friends of the Earth}}, title = {{Shifting the Market}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://foe.org/projects/bee-friendly-retail-campaign/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }