Sustainability and Strategy in US Agri-Food Firms: An Assessment of Current Practices

Increasingly, many major U.S. agri-food firms are joining their European counterparts in incorporating sustainability initiatives into their business operations. This paper provides a content analysis of the sustainability initiatives reported by select U.S. agri-food firms throughout the supply chain in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Among the results of our analysis, we find that many U.S agri-food firms continue to engage in a "hodgepodge" approach to sustainability without a clear link to their business strategy. Furthermore, these firms have transitioned their sustainability initiatives to focus on internal initiatives to address environmental and supply chain issues over time.