Sustainability strategies in agribusiness: Understanding key drivers, objectives, and actions

The topic of sustainability which involves simultaneously addressing the issues of environmental integrity, social equity, and economic prosperity has become increasingly important for companies in most industries over the past few decades. Agribusiness companies in particular face a number of concerns including global food security, the environmental impacts of agriculture, fair labor standards, and health and safety. Society looks to businesses in addition to government as a major source of solutions because they often have the technology, financial resources, and capabilities to invest in new knowledge and drive innovation. Since sustainability is considered a complex or “wicked problem” that is difficult to define or solve using traditional processes, companies adopt a range of sustainability strategies that can be classified as a series of levels or stages. The purpose of this study is to explore the domain of sustainability from the agribusiness perspective and to identify factors that influence an agribusiness company’s sustainability strategies in terms of views, actions, and performance measures. A total of 114 surveys were collected from a survey of agribusiness professionals administered at Purdue University. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis procedures identified two groups of companies in terms of sustainability views (Broad and Narrow Sustainability) and three groups of companies relating to sustainability actions (Active, Planning, and Inactive) among agribusiness companies. Logit regression analysis was then used to examine the significant factors in determining a company’s association with a particular group. In this study, internal pressures from management were positively correlated with being a member of the Broad Sustainability group and the Active group, the highest levels for sustainability views and actions respectively. No other internal or external pressures had as much of an influence. In addition, there was no strong evidence that the size of a company was significant in determining a company’s level of sustainability. Finally, results tended to suggest that a respondent’s personal knowledge and perceptions of sustainability may have influenced how his or her company’s interpretation of sustainability was communicated