How do companies act .. the talk? A closer look at companies' biodiversity actions across a national food value chain

Food production ranks among the primary causes of biodiversity decline. While drivers of this decline are well known, the role of food value chains in contributing to efforts to mitigate the ongoing biodiversity decline remains poorly understood. Adopting a qualitative, grounded theory research design, we explore companies’ biodiversity actions across a national food value chain. Empirically, we study 37 companies operating in the Finnish food value chain via interviews aiming to capture the companies’ actions on biodiversity, supplemented by secondary material. Adopting a theoretical sampling strategy, studied companies ranged from primary production to processing, trade and food services.

As our findings, we (1) identify a total of 161 biodiversity actions that companies undertake, summarized into 20 focal actions (2) assess which of these actions bear direct vs. indirect impact on biodiversity, and further, how these actions depend on (3) a company’s position in the value chain, and (4) the function within an organization.

Taking a closer look, the biodiversity actions were either geared at land use or they were undertaken in organizational functions. Land use related biodiversity actions aimed either at sharing productive land with biodiversity or sparing land for biodiversity via efficient land use practices, although improving soil and growing conditions could be seen as relating to both aims. Further, we observed that only actions that took place in primary production and that aimed at sharing land with nature and improving soil, had direct, positive impacts on biodiversity. In contrast, while land sparing strategies were commonly cited by value chain actors, the causal mechanism through which spared land could contribute to biodiversity conservation instead of prompting other forms of intensive land use, remained unidentified. Actions undertaken in organizational functions related to supply chain management, sales and marketing, and corporate-level actions.

In sum, we contribute to the discussion on biodiversity and business by offering an analytical categorization of companies’ direct vs. indirect biodiversity actions across a national food value chain. Paralleling corporate commitments, reporting and measurement, our findings are a call to appreciate what companies and businesses, across sectors, industries and supply chains, actually do toward biodiversity conservation.