The Fireside Chat Series gives members of the fresh produce industry who are curious about Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) an opportunity to hear directly from EFI staff through casual conversations that explore important aspects of the EFI Program.
This episode’s chat features a conversation between EFI’s Marketing and Sales Manager Madelyn Edlin, Organization & Workforce Development Manager Lilian Autler and Director of Marketing Communications LeAnne Ruzzamenti about the impacts of corporate social responsibility for the fresh produce industry and on EFI-certified farms.
“Corporate social responsibility is very closely tied to the notion of sustainability, which means creating economic and social and environmental values — all those non-financial factors that companies need to consider when making business decisions.”
– Lilian Autler, Organization & Workforce Development Manager for EFI
What does corporate social responsibility mean?
(Find the full response starting at minute 1:32)
As we’ll see throughout this conversation, there are different ways to define corporate social responsibility (CSR). A starting place is the idea that a corporation should be socially accountable and find ways to bring benefits to a broader community of stakeholders, rather than solely driving profits for its shareholders.
How are today’s consumers thinking about CSR?
(Find the full response starting at minute 2:24)
CSR as we know it in 2023 started to take hold in the 1970s and as today’s younger generations have come to have more influence in the market, their demand for a values-forward approach from corporations is carrying more weight.
Studies show that today’s consumers want to know that corporations and brands are doing good work, taking care of people and taking care of the planet. Consumer loyalty to brands and corporations is tied to the trust consumers have in what’s happening behind the scenes.
The pandemic served to reinforce these trends of caring for people and planet because it brought the invisible work happening in the supply chain and by essential workers to the top of mind for the average consumer.
The post-pandemic consumer wants to know the products and services they buy are taking care of essential workers and they want to see a company’s values held up across all operations, supply chains and in the communities where the products are made. Retailers are paying attention to these consumer demands, and many are beginning to ask for third-party certifications or verifications in response.
What does CSR look like for the fresh produce industry?
(Find the full response starting at minute 5:43)
The 2014 LA Times expose on forced labor and poor working conditions on fresh produce farms in Mexico was a watershed moment for the fresh produce industry, spurring the creation of the Ethical Charter on Responsible Labor Practices.
The Ethical Charter is a fantastic guide for CSR in fresh produce, because it touches on human rights, compliance with labor laws and groundbreaking standards regarding professional conduct (including communication, worker involvement and management systems). The EFI Program puts the guidelines in the Ethical Charter into action for fresh produce companies.
Retailer requirements are also a great window into CSR on fresh produce operations. We’re currently seeing increased requirements surrounding responsible recruitment of workers, working conditions, sustainability efforts and pollinator health.
How does EFI help a farming operation put its CSR goals into action?
(Find the full response starting at minute 7:49)
Finding the ways values for sustainability, people and planet are built into the day-to-day work of an operation is one way to look at how CSR happens for a fresh produce company.
EFI’s solution for farming operations seeking to do business in a way that takes care of people and the environment is the creation of a diverse, cross-functional, cross-level EFI Leadership Team. These teams serve as a backbone for the communication systems that can both facilitate and embody CSR on a farming operation.
The role of the EFI Leadership Team is to understand the EFI Program and standards, facilitate communication and collaboration across the company and with the rest of the workforce and help address problems and make improvements that can affect compliance with the certification and in general by bringing in the voices of people from across the operation.
By requiring farming operations to have trained Leadership Teams that are an integral part of the compliance and continuous improvement of the operation, EFI certification helps companies build structures and mechanisms for worker voice and worker-management collaboration that can lead to real long-term culture change. The company and the workforce benefit: the company is able to access the on-the-ground perspectives and experience of its employees and the workforce sees and feels that their knowledge and ideas are heard, respected and valued, which increases loyalty and connection and gives workers confidence to speak up if there’s a problem.
“Maybe the best definition for corporate social responsibility is when you have those reinforcing cycles happening — when you’re doing the right thing and you’re giving trust and agency to your workers who are then helping to drive your profit and improve social and environmental impacts.”
– LeAnne Ruzzamenti, Director of Marketing Communications for EFI
Can you share a favorite real-world example of CSR success on a fresh produce operation?
(Find the full response starting at minute 12:18)
Organizational culture and what the workplace is like when no auditor is present is so important for CSR on a farming operation.
Here’s a specific example:
One grower has a story illustrating how building trust through the EFI Leadership team contributed to a culture change for their entire operation, resolving a problem they had been unaware of previously.
Before becoming EFI certified, this company was taking action to check in with workers, ask how things are going, doing small group and one-on-one interviews and seeking feedback for improvement. The feedback they received: Things here are great.
After introducing EFI training and building a Leadership Team, trust and respect started growing in the company culture and with it, murmurings arose revealing that things on the farm were not quite as ok as the original feedback suggested. Workers had a deeper trust in the systems for reporting and addressing issues and for the first time raised an alarm about sexual harassment taking place in the fields. With this new awareness, the company was able to respond with a message of zero tolerance for sexual harassment, increased trainings and management changes as needed.
Providing the platform for workers to identify and safely bring up issues without fear of retribution built trust and respect, and workers were able to see their voice initiating action and improving their workplace.
And an example with a broad application:
Each element of the people, planet and profit model can reinforce the other two. Some of EFI’s most committed long-term partner companies have worker-manager teams that are an integral part of how the operations are run day to day and that model has led to important changes and improvements that arose from workforce suggestions. For instance, the design and implementation of more effective and efficient tools or equipment and better ways of organizing work processes.
Additionally, some of our partners are now going beyond the EFI certification requirements and using these systems for other programs that support their CSR objectives. Several operations have created waste reduction programs that incorporate a worker-management collaborative team. These programs not only benefit the workplace and the environment, but really rely on and draw on an informed and engaged workforce that wants to have a positive impact on the environment and cares deeply about the future of the world they and their children will live in.
I’m ready to learn more about EFI, what’s next?
Let’s have a conversation. Reach out to Madelyn Edlin or send an email to info@equitablefood.org.
Links to other conversations in the Fireside Chat Series
Fireside Chat 1: Is EFI Right for My Business?
Fireside Chat 2: What are Worker-Led Improvements, Who Benefits From them and Do They Work?
Fireside Chat 3: What is Continuous Improvement and How Can I Achieve It?
Summary written by: Amy Beth Dingle, Freelance Writer for EFI
