Recent Reads About Corporate Social Responsibility in the Agri-Food Industry
The intersection of my research into agricultural human resources (HR)/labor practices and consumer perspectives can be categorized as exploring consumers' attitudes toward corporate sustainability, also called corporate social responsibility (CSR). I finished reading two recent releases You Can't Market Manure at Lunchtime (Ganzler, 2024) and Every Purchase Matters (Rice, 2025) about CSR in the agri-food industry.
Ganzler uses anecdotes of her experience at Bon Appetit Management Company to offer five lessons a manager could take in any industry to adopt and importantly profit from corporate social responsibility. I pulled two elements in particular from the book. The first was the stoplight colors of the circle of responsibility matrix (p.39-40) wherein one guiding question is, "Are these commitments in line with current science and best thinking?" I think this is a particular challenge for managers, despite being green on the matrix, because science keeps evolving. Also, one thing that stood out to me teaching my agricultural policy class this spring was that different evidence and logic resonates with different people, so "who's "best thinking" are you following?" is an important question to address in itself. The other thing that stood out was just serendipity and how certain things are brought into our lives at the right time. On pages 54-60 Ganzler interviews Ernie Farley of Good Farms and the Equitable Food Initiative. I am highly anticipating being able to hear from Ernie directly as a speaker for the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) post-conference workshop I'm helping to co-organize with Ali Hill on Reducing the labor of beginning agricultural labor economics research.
Rice writes a memoir of one of many sustainability labels, Fair Trade USA. I learned significantly more about what the label represents from reading this book. And, I'll be honest, my naivety was revealed when I was surprised about the conflicts within the Fair Trade movement, which is still a rather small element of the global economy, as to best practices. I'm interested in reading an Epilogue to a 10-year edition of the book in the future about one particular decision point, whether to reduce worker premiums. Around page 283, Rice declares that Fair Trade USA is now going for volume with lower premiums than before. Earlier in the book he talked about the need for improved metrics monitoring. I hope that in addition to the volume (overall total dollars of premiums distributed) that the organization is also tracking the cost of how workers' committees use their premiums and where the projects rank on the needs assessment prioritization lists. My concern is that while volume may touch more workers' lives, the practical impact may be more modest as a result of this policy change. For example, if a new water system costs $8 and the old premium was $10 for one farm then the workers on that farm can buy one water system. If the premium drops to $7 per farm then the total premium is higher with another farm added, $14, but now we have no water systems because neither group independently can afford it. The money is still likely to be spent but now it can't afford the priority project it previously could fund.
Have you read either of these books? If so, what stood out to you?
Are you familiar with the Fair Trade movement? What are your thoughts on Fair Trade USA reducing worker premiums to encourage higher volume market penetration?
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