Greening food supply chains: Analyzing the potential role of retailers in triggering/ensuring environmentally and socially responsible production of food

In English In order to meet the unprecedented challenge of feeding an increasing population while curbing associated environmental impacts a fundamental change in the current food system is required. Such a shift needs an active facilitator who could set and implement the sustainability agenda in the food supply chain. Recently, it has been argued that retailers might become a vital agent of change towards sustainability due to their size, consolidation of the bargaining power and strategic positioning at the intersection between different supply chain players (Ytterhus, Arnestad et al. 1999; Durieu 2003; SustainableDevelopmentCommission 2008; CIAA 2009)
This paper presents the initial results from an ongoing study which focuses on sustainable supply chain management within the food retail sector. The study is designed to describe and analyse the practice of retailers that are designed to trigger and/or ensure environmentally and socially responsible production of food. The study is funded by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS), and the ambition is to provide knew knowledge of relevance to the retail sector and it’s stakeholders. Consequently we are not only interested in practices but also to understand the potential of retailers to exercise influence and control upstream in the supply chain, the challenges associated with such endeavors, and the influence of key contextual factors which may facilitate or thwart attempts at addressing environmental and social aspects in the upstream supply chain.