PRODUCT - A strategy of social responsibility aimed at the product takes into consideration at least one of the following elements: • quality, i.e. safety, healthiness and compliance of raw materials and production methods with certain characteristics; • locality, i.e. the property of the product to represent the value of its territory of origin, expressing the ensemble of unique traditions, culture and know-how. Such dimension is made even more valuable by the growing diffusion of products with locality marks (PDO, PGI, TSG, etc); • information transparency on product lifecycle. Information constitutes an added value that cannot be foregone and encompasses the specific attributes (i.e. the production process, the environmental impact, etc.).
HUMAN RESOURCES - Agribusiness firms already complying with the law in terms of human resources can trigger SR as follows: • enhancing workers' skills through refreshing courses and the education of personnel (e.g. on safety at the workplace); • resource management policy triggering employees' awareness and motivation towards company goals (e.g. through assessment systems, incentives/bonuses based on achievements, information transparency, etc.); • equal opportunities policy guaranteeing access and growth to those categories potentially "on the edge", such as women, invalid, socially marginalized (ex-convicts, ex-addicts, etc.); • integration of migrant workers, which is a delicate aspect for the whole rural issue; • wellbeing at work through the promotion of recreational activities outside of work hours, bonus trips, etc.
COMMUNITY - The idea of community in the context of corporate social responsibility recalls three concepts: • exclusivity - the territory encompasses both material (e.g. population, area, income, orographical configuration, etc) and intangible elements of the community (language, culture and traditions, landscape, climate, etc). These features are strongly tied among each other in a natural way and generate effects difficult to repeat in the surrounding areas; in this sense, the community acquires a series of prerogatives and distinctive traits which characterize the typical food products; • complementarity - the idea of community in CSR regards the creation of networks among the stakeholders, i.e. the creation and increase of social capital involving the various players of the agri-food chain; the network has a triple objective: welfare for the community, to be achieved through major economic and environmental sustainability; sharing socially responsible best practices and the creation of a forum where other virtuous initiatives may begin; • subsidiarity - a community is competitive when public institutions at the local level patronize agricultural associations, companies, processing industries, etc. and, thus, benefit final consumers. SR finds its inner rationale when single companies spread their vision of sustainability to the entire community, setting quality life improvement as the foremost objective.
ENVIRONMENT - The primary sector is tightly connected to several environmental components (air, water, biodiversity, climate, and landscape) affect them significantly in terms of both externalities (positive and negative) and voluntary actions. In this sense, farming activities are potentially harmful in different ways, for example by using excessive amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, as well as bad management of water resources, overgrazing, etc. Each of these actions can turn into an asset, especially when the agro-food operator decides to undertake the SR path, promoting environmental sustainability and adopting more sustainable production methods. |