Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been around a long time in the fresh produce industry and goes with the territory when it comes to sourcing fruit and vegetables from overseas, especially from developing companies. Consumers lead the way on the subject and both small and large companies, including the major retailers, are keen to display their social credentials at every opportunity.
But cynics have been quick to question the longevity of such commitments from both the industry and consumers now that the recession has hit and price has become of greater concern.
There have been several incidents published in the press of late, alleging that standards have slipped both in Europe and further afield. Social affairs ministry inspectors are currently looking into reports of asparagus workers being held in “near slavery” on a farm in Brabant, the Netherlands, and last week the owner of the farm was arrested. Some 50 workers were living on the farm in a dirty room without windows and a sleeping area that broke fire regulations.
But is it just a case of pushing the irresponsible companies out of the picture? The fact that the owner of the farm has already reportedly been fined €566,000 (£490,230) since 2005 for breaking the law by employing illegal immigrants and paying below the minimum wage would suggest that this is more about finally being able to remove undesirables from the supply chain, in much the way the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) does in the UK.
On a larger scale, the UK’s number-one retailer has been in the spotlight for less than favourable conditions on farms in South Africa, despite the launch of consumer-facing brand Nurture this year, which should provide an adequate living for all involved on Tesco-serving farms. The Guardian reported that the retailer has been accused of failing to meet pledges to improve conditions for fruit pickers on more than 700 farms in South Africa.
It seems that three years ago, Tesco agreed to examine conditions for mainly female workers, but interviews with female workers on Tesco supplier farms near Cape Town revealed they are still only being paid South Africa’s “minimum” rather than a “living” wage - which they say leaves them with barely enough money to feed and clothe their children.
Consumers have not forgotten their morals, despite the current economic climate. It is common knowledge that, although other high-priced lines - such as organics - have seen downturns in demand, Fairtrade’s popularity is on the up.
Echoing many retailers, The Co-operative’s director of food retail marketing, Debbie Robinson, told delegates at last week’s Re:fresh Conference that ethical trading in the UK and abroad is still the number-one priority over price, according to a survey - hailed as the largest-ever conducted on ethics - of the retailer’s customers.
Tesco maintains that it is making “real progress” on improving worker conditions and that it is following the UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative regarding wage payments.
So, even though the industry has come a long way with CSR, it is still very much at the beginning of the journey. It is not something that happens overnight and needs constant maintenance to remain effective.
Ideally, CSR policy would function as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby businesses would monitor and ensure their adherence to law, ethical standards and international norms.
At supply chain manager Produce World, CSR is a relatively new discipline, but many of the core principles on which it is based - such as consideration for the needs of all stakeholders and accepting responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of the business - are hard-wired into the way the group, which looks after companies Solanum, Isleham Fresh Produce, RB Organic, Rustler Produce, Marshall Bros (Butterwick), Briess Produce and Growing Trust with Las Lomas, works.
“We created the role of group CSR director in August 2007 and issued our first CSR report, Growing Trust, in September 2008,” says Catriona Mowbray, group marketing manager. “From late 2007, we built our CSR framework from the bottom up without any restrictions or compromises dictated by existing arrangements. Very few businesses have the luxury of creating something from scratch and learning from the mistakes of others rather than their own.”
The company has developed a comprehensive governance structure to direct and control its CSR activities, allocate responsibilities, and set and monitor performance targets. The structure encompasses four pillars of CSR - community, environment, workplace and responsible sourcing - and spans the entire business, involving employees at all levels.
Produce World believes that the most important issue must always be health and safety, which is why it has embarked on a two-year intervention project with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) - one of the first ventures of its kind in East Anglia.
The project involves HSE inspectors conducting visits to all of the companies within the Produce World group, in the form of structured interviews of different levels of management followed by site inspections. The project commenced in March 2009 at Isleham Fresh Produce and will move to RB Organic at Yaxley in the early summer.
UK importer and distributor Capespan Ltd has been involved in CSR activities for many years, but the difference now is that it is given a higher profile and it is more structured than in the past.
“CSR is core to Capespan’s business; we accept responsibility for the impact of our activities in relation to all aspects of our operations,” says head of corporate affairs Alistair Phillipson. “We believe that our responsibility extends beyond compliance with current statutory obligations and we aim to voluntarily take further steps to improve our performance in this area. Ultimately, we believe that CSR represents good business practice.
“We have established a CSR team with representation from across our business and have identified key goals and activities, which we can measure against improvement targets. These range from the reduction of energy use and emissions to staff and community support projects all over the world.”
The Capespan-owned Applethwaite Farm in South Africa is an example of a farming business that encourages its employees to realise their full potential by providing crèche and healthcare facilities, along with educational opportunities.
Capespan has also been working with UK-based charity School-Aid for a number of years, organising the shipment of school equipment and learning materials to the underprivileged in South Africa, in conjunction with Tilbury Container Services, Maersk Line, Harwood Shipping and Simpson Transport. This year, the company is collaborating even more closely with the charity to direct some of these materials to farm schools - often the most needy.
Closer to home, Capespan is an active supporter of national charities such as Race for Life, the Taxi Drivers Fund for underprivileged children and Lennox Children’s Cancer Fund.
So, as developing countries try to give workers that pick, prepare and transport fruit and vegetables a fair deal socially, is the UK industry matching that on its own shores?
“There is a tendency for people to think of CSR mainly in terms of the big environmental issues and the upliftment of communities and individuals in developing countries,” says Phillipson. “The reality is that CSR is equally about social and employment conditions in the UK and the EU, both of which are subject to a high degree of regulation driven by the social policy element of the EU Social Chapter, as well as national UK-originated legislation. This aspect of CSR is a matter of legal compliance.
“Capespan sources from a wide range of origins using a variety of business models, but in all situations our policy is to work with producers that have GlobalGAP accreditation or equivalent.
“The main concerns must be the maintenance of a safe working environment and healthy workforce, but close behind this we also need to maintain an environment in which individuals have the necessary opportunities and challenges to develop to their full potential,” says Phillipson. “This is good for the individual and good for the business.”
Mowbray agrees. She says: “At Produce World, we are committed to developing positively our workplace culture, which encompasses everything that happens in our places of work and the impact of our activities on our employees, agency staff and contractors. The main elements are health and safety, employee rights, communication and consultation, terms of employment, agency and migrant workers, as well as training and development.
“Our workplace culture is primarily shaped by our HR policies, which have been developed by our HR team over the last five years. From a starting point of ensuring group compliance with ever-changing employment law, HR policy is now increasingly used to embed the group’s values in the way we work and to strengthen our position as an employer of choice. It is rare in our industry for all employees to benefit from employer-matched pension contributions and a non-contributory cash health plan, but we believe that as a responsible employer we should offer these.”
Produce World employs staff in the UK and Spain, but its focus is very much on the local communities in East Anglia. “A survey of our charitable giving and community links in November 2007 highlighted that we had little or no information about our partners, activities or donations,” continues Mowbray. “This made it very hard for us to measure whether what we are doing is having a positive impact and impossible for us to assess whether we are investing our time, money and resources in the most effective way.
“To address this, we established The Growing Trust to manage and deliver our community activities. Its sole purpose is to benefit the communities in which we and our growers operate. The trust is in the process of being registered as a charity.
“It has been set up with specific charitable objectives to ensure that the donations that it makes are targeted and it particularly looks to support small, local charities and community organisations that find it difficult to attract funding.”
Some of the main issues brought to fresh produce companies by staff can be solved with effective communication through the workforce.
“Employees do not always feel properly informed about what the business is doing and where it is going. To address this, we recently extended the responsibilities of Louise Piggott, our group development manager, to include internal communications, and have held a business briefing for employees to focus everyone on the company values and to outline our business vision and strategy. Louise has also co-ordinated the launch of our company newspaper - Around the World - to keep all employees up to date with news from around the group.”
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