I’ve just read an article in Ethical Performance (Nov 09 edition, Vol 11, issue 6 p2) about the price of tomatoes. A host of US companies including McDonalds and the worlds biggest catering company, Compass, have agreed to pay a premium for their tomatoes.
Current business conditions are keeping the pressure on to reduce costs. So why are these companies prepared to do this, and what does the price of toms have to do with the rest of business?
In this case, a farmworkers group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), has campaigned for and worked with a series of businesses to improve labour conditions for largely minority farm workers across Florida.
What is so striking is that these farm workers were not asking for much – a code of conduct on working hours and safety, and a reasonable minimum price for their labour working in a developed country. The surprise is that it has taken until this year to make the breakthrough. So, fair(ish) tomatoes cost a bit more and the business giants are slowly accepting this.
When we are working with clients, we often see the many conflicting priorities across businesses. Using this example, it is cutting costs vs. adding costs to achieve fairer trade. It would be great to be able to clearly demonstrate how becoming more responsible leads to cost savings across the business, but the fact is that for some of the most significant challenges on the path towards sustainability, there is a premium to be paid.
Fair wages, safety, environmentally preferable material selection, education – to give just a few examples – are all going to cost. The challenge for business is to be able to clearly articulate why it is advantageous for them to go down this route, and then to build this into their corporate strategies.
For shareholders, the more expensive tomatoes may not seem to taste so sweet today. But surely they will taste better to most people, and this can only serve to strengthen a company and its proposition.
Tags: dave knight, sustainability