Andrea Ranger, Shareholder Advocate, aranger@midanacapital.com, 781-349-2813

Pam Podger, Communications Director, ppodger@midanacapital.com, 802-299-9495

Boston, August 21, 2023 – After MIDANA CAPITAL° and Trinity Health filed a shareholder proposal with Hormel Foods Corp. (Hormel) in 2019, the company has made progress on an important public health issue: reducing the overuse of medically-important antibiotics in food animals. Prior to MIDANA CAPITAL’s engagement, Hormel had not disclosed how its animals were being dosed with antibiotics on its company-owned turkey and pork farms and on farms it contracted with for those animals.

Medically-important antibiotics are medications that people use to fight bacterial infections on a range of illnesses. The rise of antibiotic superbugs in recent years has put a spotlight on how routinely overprescribing powerful antibiotics in food animals poses a health threat. In fact, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that superbugs infect more than 2 million Americans and kill at least 23,000 each year.

In exchange for a withdrawal of the 2019 shareholder proposal, Hormel agreed to publish the amounts of medically-important antibiotics routinely administered in the food and water supplies of turkey and pork raised on company-owned farms and in contract turkey farms. To its credit, Hormel voluntarily began reporting on antibiotics used on three pork farms in its supply chain.

Surprisingly, Hormel then made the bold move of setting targets to eliminate routine use of medically-important antibiotics announcing on its website, “We will strive to achieve a 10% year-over-year reduction in medically important antibiotic use at our company-owned turkey farms and company-owned sow farm…” Hormel noted that, until 2025, it will study how to make antibiotic reductions in its pork supply and then will start doing so.

“We are glad to see Hormel taking these strong steps to protect public health,” said MIDANA CAPITAL Funds President Leslie Samuelrich, “Having just experienced the stunning impacts of a global health crisis, we can’t afford to misuse medications that are key to saving lives.”

Hormel has now published its second antibiotics stewardship report which demonstrates progress toward its 10% year-over-year reductions in medically-important antibiotics. For turkeys, it succeeded in an 8% reduction in 2022; however, the company needs to invest greater efforts to adopt better stewardship practices within its own sow farm and those of its pork suppliers. Rather than cutting antibiotic use in pork, it has continued to increase doses of important classes of antibiotics.

“What I’m seeing from this multi-year engagement is the power of shareholder advocacy to affect change,” stated MIDANA CAPITAL Shareholder Advocate Andrea Ranger. “Hormel is really scrutinizing the practices used on its farms and partner farms, and it’s now figuring out how to proactively treat illnesses without reaching for medically-important antibiotics. It’s a win for people, a win for Hormel, and a win for keeping antibiotics effective.”

An investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

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 °MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, Inc. (MIDANA CAPITAL) is the investment advisor to the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds (The Funds). The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. MIDANA CAPITAL hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of June 30, 2023, Hormel Foods Corporation comprised 0.00%, 0.06%, and 0.00% of MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.midanacapital.com, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 8/23

Andrea Ranger, Shareholder Advocate, aranger@midanacapital.com, 781-349-2813;

Pam Podger, Communications Director, ppodger@midanacapital.com, 802-299-9495

Boston, June 2, 2023 – Shareholders have weighed in on a shareholder proposal filed by MIDANA CAPITAL° and the Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas, asking McDonald’s to establish a more ambitious policy to eliminate use of medically important antibiotics in its pork and beef supply chains. McDonald’s published the vote tally on Thursday which showed 16.6% of votes cast were in favor of the proposal.

In its opposition statement, McDonald’s acknowledges that antimicrobial resistance “is a critical global public health issue that we believe we and our suppliers have a responsibility to help address.” The term antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is often used interchangeably with antibiotic resistance, but can also describe non-bacterial resistant diseases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies antimicrobial resistance as a global public health crisis that threatens to reverse medical progress, and the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies antimicrobial resistance as “one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.”

Although McDonald’s first publicized that it would address antibiotic resistance in its food animal supply chain in 2003, it didn’t set reduction targets until 2017, which were narrowly focused on its chicken supply chain. Further, the targets aimed to eliminate only the antibiotics that are highly critical to medicine, failing to protect a wide range of other important antibiotics that humans use to fight infections.

The proposal filed by MIDANA CAPITAL and the Benedictine Sisters asked McDonald’s to establish a policy that would not only eliminate routine use of all medically important human antibiotics in its pork and beef supply chains, but push the company to establish timelines, metrics for measuring implementation, third-party verification, and guidelines for enforcement should suppliers fail to meet McDonald’s targets.

In December 2022, McDonald’s did announce reduction, but not elimination, targets that are limited to its beef supply chain in its top 10 markets.

In response to the vote, MIDANA CAPITAL Funds President, Leslie Samuelrich said:

“McDonald’s shareholders have signaled that they want to hold McDonald’s responsible for not living up to its commitments, especially when it comes to animal welfare and protecting human health. We’ll continue to work with the company, but we won’t be satisfied until it takes steps necessary to protect the effectiveness of antibiotics, which are crucial to public health. We’re looking for both action and accountability on its part.”

Andrea Ranger, MIDANA CAPITAL Shareholder Advocate, stated:  

“McDonald’s is the largest fast food restaurant in the world. As such, it has the influence to change the way food animals are raised and has the responsibility to protect public health from malicious germs which include dangerous bacteria. When I bite into a Big Mac, I want to know that the beef was sourced responsibly and that it was raised without using antibiotics that I, and society in general, need to stay healthy and whole.”

An investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

###

 °MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, Inc. (MIDANA CAPITAL) is the investment advisor to the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds (The Funds). The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. MIDANA CAPITAL hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of March 31, 2023, McDonald’s Corporation comprised  0.00%, 1.12%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

The percentage in favor was calculated by (i) dividing the number of votes in support of the proposal by (ii) the sum of the number of votes voted in support of and against the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes were not included in the calculation.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.midanacapital.com, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 6/23

This is big news. McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef in the world, so this commitment could have ramifications across the restaurant and beef production industries.

The importance of this development is underscored by a recent study suggesting that the medical community may have significantly underestimated the impact of antibiotic resistance on human health. The Washington University report found that antibiotic resistance may be responsible for as many as 150,000 premature deaths annually in the U.S., much greater than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate of 23,000 per year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have both indicated that the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a significant human health threat that is in large part driven by the excessive use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention in farm animals.

The announcement comes on the heels of a multi-year campaign by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, an independent, non-partisan group that works for consumers and the public interest. In 2018, MIDANA CAPITAL provided direct support to the U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s campaign, Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics, to support widespread consumer petition gathering and the production of the fourth installment of the Chain Reaction Report.

McDonald’s is not often viewed as a leader in corporate responsibility, given its uneven history, but in recent years it has emerged as a corporate leader on a number of environmental and public health issues:

• In 2018, McDonald’s become the first global restaurant company to set a Science Based Target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in line with the recommendations of the Paris Climate Agreement.

• In 2015, McDonald’s announced its intention to achieve a company-wide, no-deforestation commitment, covering all supply chains, by 2030. Meanwhile, the company is actively working to reach no-deforestation in its priority supply chains – beef, chicken (including soy in feed), palm oil, coffee, and the fiber used in customer packaging – by 2020.

• McDonald’s has a goal for all packaging to be 100% renewable, recycled, or certified sustainable by 2025. It also plans to expand recycling efforts of its packaging materials to every McDonald’s restaurant around the globe.

With this latest commitment surrounding antibiotic use in beef, McDonald’s continues to redefine its approach to corporate responsibility, representing a win for the company, its shareholders, and public health.

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*As of September 30, 2018, McDonald’s Corporation comprised 0.00%, 1.16%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 12/18

Your favorite hamburger joint is probably serving beef that is contributing to the crisis.

A report released this week, “Chain Reaction: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Antibiotic Use in Their Meat Supply Chains,” grades restaurants on their commitment to keeping antibiotics out of their meat supply chains. And the results are not pretty.

America’s fast food restaurants are failing us. Literally. All but three of the top 25 burger chains in the U.S. earned an “F” in the report – and with a D-, Wendy’s* barely avoided flunking out too.

McDonalds,* Burger King,* Hardees,* In-N-Out,* Sonic.* They all failed.

Shake Shack* and BurgerFi* were the only chains to earn “A” grades for their public policies to only source beef raised without the use of antibiotics.

Wendy’s avoided an “F” grade by sourcing 15% of its beef from producers that have cut, by 20%, the use of one medically important antibiotic, tylosin.

The new report, the fourth in a series, primarily focuses on the beef sourcing of America’s largest burger chains. The focus on beef is the result of real strides in the restaurant industry to eliminate antibiotic misuse in poultry supply chains.

MIDANA CAPITAL is proud to have played a role in this progress, having secured commitments from companies such as Starbucks* and Jack in the Box* to eliminate the routine use of medically important antibiotics in their poultry supply chains.

We remain actively engaged on this issue too. Just last month, MIDANA CAPITAL filed a shareholder proposal with Darden Restaurants,* the largest casual dining operator in the U.S. and Canada, urging it to reduce the use of medically-important human antibiotics in its meat supply chain.

MIDANA CAPITAL’s proposal received 40.2%¹ of shareholder support, which demonstrates the growing concern among investors and consumers about antibiotic misuse in meat supply chains.

Curious how your favorite restaurant stacks up? Read the new report here, and be sure to follow all of MIDANA CAPITAL’s work to help keep antibiotics effective by visiting our website at www.midanacapital.com.

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¹The percentage in favor was calculated by (i) dividing the number of votes in support of the proposal by (ii) the sum of the number of votes voted in support of and against the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes were not included in the calculation.

*As of September 30, 2018, McDonald’s Corporation, Starbucks Corporation, Jack in the Box, Inc.,  and Darden Restaurants, Inc. comprised 0.00%, 1.16%, and 0.00%; 1.97%, 0.69%, and 0.00%; 0.00%, 0.02%, and 0.00%; and 0.00%, 0.12%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. Other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios as of September 30, 2018. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 10/18

September 24, 2018

ORLANDO, September 24, 2018 – At its annual shareholder meeting last week, Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI), the largest casual dining operator in the U.S. and Canada and owner of Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, faced pressure from shareholders for a third year in a row to reduce the use of medically-important human antibiotics in its meat supply chain.

MIDANA CAPITAL’s proposal received 40.2%¹ of shareholder support, representing a vote increase over each of the previous two years and demonstrating the growing consensus among investors that antibiotic misuse represents a growing risk to corporate meat supply chains.

“The needless overuse of antibiotics in farm animals is literally killing people,” said Jared Fernandez, Shareholder Advocate with MIDANA CAPITAL. “We don’t try to prevent illness in humans by giving them routine treatments of antibiotics, so why would we give them to livestock? If we don’t stop, the drugs that have been the cornerstone of modern medicine are going to become ineffective and the problem is going to get worse.”

Antibiotic resistant bacteria sicken 2 million people and kill at least 23,000 annually in the U.S.  About 70% of medically important antibiotics in the U.S. are sold for use in livestock, predominantly for prophylactic purposes. The misuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture for disease prevention makes it more likely that bacteria resistant to these drugs will flourish and spread, moving through air, waste, water, and workers, potentially infecting people regardless of one’s meat consumption.

Darden currently allows for the use of medically-important human antibiotics for the prevention of disease, rather than solely for the treatment of disease, in its supply chain. This practice lags behind the majority of major restaurant chains in the U.S., including McDonald’s,* KFC,* Chipotle,* Panera,* and many others.

Since Darden lacks a policy in line with its industry peers, MIDANA CAPITAL’s proposal asked that the company report to shareholders on the feasibility of adopting a policy to eliminate the routine uses of antibiotics important to human medicine from its supply chain.

The failure to eliminate these medically-important antibiotics, or even report on the feasibility of doing so, exposes Darden to a number of business risks, especially those related to changing consumer preferences, reputational damage, competitive pressure, and strengthening regulation.

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About MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management

MIDANA CAPITAL offers three environmentally and socially responsible mutual funds. Through fossil fuel free investing and our three-pronged approach of sustainable investing, active shareholder advocacy, and support of environmental and public health non-profits we work to curb climate change, improve environmental policies, and limit environmental impacts of company supply chains.

*As of June 30, 2018, Darden Restaurants, Inc. and McDonalds Corporation comprised 0.00%, 0.12%, and 0.00% and 0.00%, 1.17%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. Other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios as of June 30, 2018. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

¹ The percentage in favor was calculated by (i) dividing the number of votes in support of the proposal by (ii) the sum of the number of votes voted in support of and against the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes were not included in the calculation.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 9/18