Chiquita Brands International - Chiquita and Social Action Groups

Chiquita and Social Action Groups

In 1998, a coalition of social activist groups, led by EUROBAN (European Banana Action Network), itself a coalition of labor and environmental groups, chose to target the banana industry in general and Chiquita in particular to create a new climate of corporate social responsibility. Their strategy was to encourage small farming of bananas rather than large scale monoculture, and to push for subsidies and other government relief to level the field for small producers. The Fair Trade movement, which sought to influence consumers to purchase the products of smallholders also joined in the action. As a result of this pressure, changes in corporate management, and new patterns of global competition, according to J. Gary Taylor and Patricia Scharlin, Chiquita partnered with the Rainforest Alliance, an environmental group dedicated to preserving the rainforest, and made major reforms in the way they plant and protect their bananas, especially in the use of pesticides, but also to some extent in other aspects of the corporate culture.