Making food systems more just: What role for the private sector? The case of agribusinesses in the horticulture sector in the Foggia Province of Italy

Abstract

The international community sees the transformation of our food systems as essential to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. This entails addressing the various environmental, social and economic challenges they present, including the exploitation of migrant workers in agriculture. The United Nations Food System Summit held in 2021 called for the engagement of the private sector to address the above challenges and contribute to more just food systems. This raises the question of what prompts the private sector to be part of the solution as opposed to being part of the problem and adopt more responsible practices, such as providing decent work to migrant workers. The research explores the agency of agribusinesses in relation to more just food systems and does so in the context of the Foggia province in Southern Italy, a large agricultural site where worker exploitation is endemic. The research is guided by the normative lens of The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen, whereby the space of justice is more adequately assessed in what people are able to do or be rather than in the parameters set by institutions and regulatory frameworks. The capability of migrant workers and employers to realize their valuable ‘beings’ and ‘doings’ becomes the moral compass of justice in the food system. The Idea of Justice brings a comprehensive approach to address food systems and worker exploitation, capturing the complexity of the topic whilst overcoming the limits of an analysis based on discrete disciplines. The research draws on the voice and experience of a group of migrant workers who, in such a challenging environment, managed to find decent work opportunities, and of the employers who legally recruited them, exploring what both consider as their valuable ‘beings’ and ‘doings’. The role of non-state actors in mitigating the relationship between migrant workers and employers is considered in parallel. The research, which involves 65 respondents in the context of 46 semi-structured interviews and 3 focus group discussions, finds that, in the context of Foggia, businesses can be part of the solution with the support of non-government organizations. Socially and environmentally conscious non-state actors play a key role in enabling encounters between employers and workers, thereby fostering mutual knowledge and trust and the realization of their valuable ‘beings’ and ‘doings’. The latter includes, inter alia, regulating migrants’ legal status, developing their technical capacities and facilitating their safe lodging. The research concludes that a more just food system is one where the matching of the labour supply and demand is first an encounter between human beings, given that food systems emerge as webs of human relations instead of transactions and regulating institutions.

Date of Award	12 Sept 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Michael John Bloomfield (Supervisor), Neil Howard (Supervisor) & Severine Deneulin (Supervisor)