Corporate social responsibility and agrifood systems

Abstract

European Commission has played a pioneering role in the development of public policy to promote CSR ever since its 2001 Green Paper and the establishment of the European Multistakeholder Forum on CSR. In 2006 the Commission published a new policy whose centrepiece was strong support for a business-lead initiative called the European Alliance for CSR. The policy also identified 8 priority areas for EU action: awareness-raising and best practice exchange; support to multistakeholder initiatives; cooperation with Member States; consumer information and transparency; research; education; small and medium-sized enterprises; and the international dimension of CSR. In a widely changed but still evolving context, agri-food enterprises have been demonstrating socially responsible attitudes towards the common good and social welfare leading to a new business ethical dimension. In the light of a reforming prospective, agri-food enterprises are rethinking their traditional productive, economic and organizational schemes: an original way of looking at the multifunctional and sustainable farm. These enterprises are also reshaping  their relationships with the other agri-food stakeholders by adopting socially responsible behaviour.