NY comptroller drops shareholder push as ConAgra agrees to policy on palm oil

The New York comptroller has withdrawn a shareholder proposal that ConAgra Foods curtail palm oil buying from suppliers destroying forests after the company adopted a new purchasing policy.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, trustee of New York's $176 billion pension fund, says the food manufacturer's commitment helps enhance its long-term value.

The New York fund has 1.5 million shares of ConAgra worth almost $50 million.

The proposal, filed along with Green Century Capital Management, says 85 percent of palm oil is grown in Indonesia and Malaysia and a main driver of deforestation to produce more.

In a letter, ConAgra says the new policy will be in this year's corporate responsibility report.

The policy says the company will buy only from legal sources and suppliers with "no development of high conservation value landscapes."