Benefit companies as a new model for agrifood?

October 19, 2021

Sustainability, quality and supply chain control are key issues for agri-food companies and align with the benefit corporation model.

The benefit company is a qualification introduced by the legislator through the Stability Law for the year 2016, art. 1, paragraphs 376-384 (law n.208 of 28 December 2015).

Through this model, companies can pursue traditional profit goals alongside social and environmental goals.

However, this is not a commitment "external" to the core business of the company or the mere management of environmental and social externalities through CSR approaches. It is a rigorous and formal approach, through which an organization institutionalizes in its statute the social and environmental objectives that it intends to achieve and that are at the heart of its business model.

A benefit corporation, therefore, is required to be responsible, that is, to carefully manage its impacts on the environment and society, but also to be a generator of social value, through clear and far-sighted planning of its "common benefit activities".

An example of how a benefit corporation defines its goals and how to achieve them is the Boniviri Impact Map .

Benefit corporations are also required to report on their performance in terms of results achieved and impacts.

As explained in the Guide to the Constitution and Management of Benefit Corporations of the Chamber of Commerce of Taranto, the annual report must contain the evaluation of the impact generated in four areas: governance, workers, stakeholders and environment.