Environmental and social sustainability in Producer Organizations’ strategies

Purpose: This paper aimed at analyzing the role Italian Producer Organizations play in implementing sustainability actions in the fruit and vegetable sector. In particular, it aimed at verifying whether environmental actions reveal different models with respect to implementation of sustainability and at analyzing the relationship between environmental strategies and specific Producer Organizations’ characteristics. Design/methodology/approach: The work is based on a field survey carried out by submitting a questionnaire to Producer Organizations. Collected data were processed by means of exploratory data and multivariate analysis techniques. A cluster analysis was used to classify Producer Organizations with respect to their ability/will to translate views into sustainability actions. Findings: Three different groups were identified with reference to the involvement in ethical and environmental actions. Results show that Producer Organizations’ strategies often include interlinked economic and environmental objectives. In particular, product quality improvement often goes with the promotion of environmentally friendly techniques, while other environmental actions respond to a reduction costs rather than to a sustainability strategy. Research limitations/implications: Only 38 out of 300 Producer Organizations returned the questionnaire. Because of the small sample, the analysis has only an exploratory nature and aims at giving a first insight on how sustainability issues are intended and implemented in the agri-food sector. Originality/value: Most works have analyzed environmental strategies at company level. This study focused on Producers Organizations in the agri-food sector as they can represent the drivers of a sustainability pattern involving their members, too.