Did you know that food companies routinely make bacon look pinker and more wholesome by adding a chemical — nitrates — that increases cancer risk?

In a similar way, the global agribusiness industry pays advertising and public relations agencies to mask its role as a major emitter of planet-heating greenhouse gases with a rosy glow.

That aura is especially bright right now in Belém, Brazil, site of the United Nations climate summit, called COP30. During the conference, food lobbyists have been hosting slick trade booths and events at the Agrizone — “a whole other tented, air conditioned parallel event space” steps away from the main conference venue, as DeSmog’s Hazel Healy told the Guardian.

These advertising and PR campaigns aim to reassure the public that agribusiness corporations are all in on fighting the climate crisis. All the while, the agencies creating them know that behind the scenes, these same companies are lobbying hard to avert rules and mandates to slash their greenhouse gas pollution, phase out pesticides and fossil fuels, and halt destruction of forests for cropland and pastures.

Over the past few years, DeSmog has assembled an extensive database featuring in-depth profiles of advertising and PR agencies working on behalf of polluting industries. These include the following five firms, that have each strived to apply a green sheen to the public images of their agribusiness clients:

G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group

Headquarters: New York City

Size: More than 165 employees in its U.S. offices, plus industry partnerships across 50 countries.

Income: Over $33 million in annual revenue.

Fun Fact: Ranked as 2025’s top agricultural PR firm in the United States by O’Dwyers, an industry listing of public relations agencies.

Its name may be a mouthful, but G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group is clearly to the taste of the agribusiness industry, raking in $17.4 million in net fees for public relations services to farming companies in 2024, according to O’Dwyer’s, more than four times the $3.8 million taken by its closest rival, Edelman.  

G&S IMCG’s client list is a smorgasbord of corporations and lobby groups from across the sector, including Cargill, McDonald’s, Syngenta, and CropLife International, which are all present at COP30.

During the summit, Syngenta and CropLife International are hosting numerous events in the Agrizone.

For a full profile of G&S IMCG, click here.

MHP Group

Headquarters: London

Size: More than 200 staff based between offices in London and San Francisco. 

Income: Unclear; MHP Group‘s parent company, Next 15 Group, reported UK net revenue of nearly $339 million for the year ending January 31, 2025.

Fun Fact: Has worked for Sime Derby Plantation Berhad (now SD Guthrie), a palm oil company whose products were banned in the United States in 2020 following reports of forced labour.  

MHP has worked for a meaty list of agribusiness clients, such as Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales), Müller, AB Agri, and Syngenta.

A DeSmog investigation revealed that from 2020 to 2023, MHP worked with the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, a trade group with members like McDonalds and JBS (the world’s largest meat-packer), to create and promote a “new narrative” for beef in response to growing consumer concerns about meat’s health and environmental impacts.

For a full profile of MHP Group, click here.

Next 15 Group

Headquarters: London

Size: Nearly 4,000 employees across around 30 subsidiary companies in 16 countries.

Income: About $733 million in net revenue for the year ending January 31, 2025.

Fun Fact: House 337, a Next 15 agency, produced a 2023 Christmas video for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) starring a singing turkey that gets bundled into a van by a worker in a Santa suit, taken to an abattoir, and slaughtered. 

Next 15 Group says its “intention is to work with clients who have sustainable business models and are committed to the low-carbon transition,” and that “we’re not afraid to turn away profitable work that has a negative impact.” 

However, Next 15 Group agencies have worked for at least 11 companies that profit from the sale of fossil fuels, plus major meat and dairy industry players such as the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, Lactalis, Danone, and Arla Retail, according to DeSmog research.

For a full profile of Next 15 Group, click here.

Emerging Ag

Headquarters: Calgary, Canada

Size: Boutique firm with about 30 employees around the world.

Income: Undisclosed.

Fun Fact: Before founding Emerging Ag, Robynne Anderson was communications director at CropLife International, which lobbies on behalf of biotech, seed, and pesticide industries.

On November 3 — a week before the official start of COP30 — Emerging Ag CEO Robynne Anderson made a public plea for “climate resilience” to be a priority topic at the summit. “The entire biome of our planet is affected by climate change,” said Anderson in a video message. “Whether we’re talking about our beautiful trees and forests or whether we’re talking about soil health or the state of our oceans, understanding the biodiversity of the planet and how it ties into climate is going to be essential to advancing our resilience.” 

This vaguely pro-eco language masks Emerging Ag’s main mission, which is to fend off any demands that would require its clients in the livestock, fertilizer, and genetic technology industries to meaningfully reduce their destructive impacts on the climate.

Since 2017, Emerging Ag has coordinated an annual World Milk Day for the Global Dairy Platform, a trade group. The celebration pushes a misleading narrative across continents and languages that a dairy-rich diet makes the world a healthier and more sustainable place. Emerging Ag has also helped livestock interests prepare for various COPs through its work with the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. 

For a full profile of Emerging Ag, click here.

Ketchum

Headquarters: New York City

Size: 76 offices in 70 countries

Income: Pulled in $600 million in fees in 2022.

Fun Fact: In 1991, Greenpeace obtained a Ketchum-designed “crisis management plan” for the Clorox Company that involved labeling environmental advocates as “terrorists” and suing unflattering journalists.

Ketchum, part of the Omnicom Group, has a long track record of helping clients in the pesticide, pharmaceutical, and chemical manufacturing sectors push for food safety and environmental deregulation.

Its meat and dairy clients have included prominent trade groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the California Milk Advisory Board, and U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action, as well as food multinationals such as Danone and Wendy’s. It has also worked for the Council for Biotechnology Information, which is linked to major agrichemical firms.

In 2023, amid data that younger American adults were drinking less milk than the national average, Ketchum developed a campaign for trade group Dairy Management Inc. that used video games as a way to pitch dairy to Gen Z gamers.

For a full profile of Ketchum’s parent company Omnicom Group, click here.

Click here to read more of DeSmog’s climate accountability coverage of the advertising and public relations industry, and here to visit our database of agencies working for polluting industries.