ASSESSING REPORTING PRACTICES IN THE FOOD SECTOR

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a central role in the new food governance paradigm based on private regulation. As a consequence, it is extremely relevant to assess the way in which firms actually committee to their stated objectives of social responsibility. CSR reporting is a widely used method to make social responsibility practices transparent and accountable. Reporting is a means through which companies try to demonstrate their commitment to CSR by offering clear and precise information, similar to more traditional reporting documents. In this study we relied on the Global reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines in order to assess the commitment to sustainability of a sample of major agribusiness companies. The level of comprehensive reporting of the social responsibility reports of the selected companies was assessed using a content analysis framework. The results of the study indicate a low level of comprehensive CSR reporting, with only a few companies reaching a high value of comprehensiveness. The low level of comprehensiveness of CSR reporting measured by the content analysis indicates that relying solely on voluntary actions and disclosures by companies might not be sufficient for correcting the wide range of negative externalities and social costs produced by the agri-food sector.