Press-release from 1 June 2022
Farmy AG has been B Corp certified with 103.6 points since May 2022. With this exceptional result from a Swiss B Corp company, Farmy joins a significant global movement towards a more sustainable form of business.
Credit: Farmy
Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s as well as our producer Weleda: all these global brands are B Corp certified. "B Corp" stands for "Benefit Corporations", i.e. companies that meet the highest standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency. All "B Corps" are companies striving to use business as a force for good, and they comprehensively measure and manage their social and environmental impact. The B Corps are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. Those who receive the certification must withstand an extremely rigorous assessment of their company's environmental and social impact as well as their governance. The Swiss online market Farmy has now also joined the ranks of B Corp-certified companies.
Of course, this pleasing result is related to Farmy's high and long-term principles on sustainability. The certification recognises, among other things, the promotion of regional and ecological value chains and the strong links with regional organic farming and customers in the metropolitan regions of Zurich and Lake Geneva.
Farmy also scores points for taking into account and satisfying customer needs, for example with regard to data protection and the regular integration of customer surveys. The innovative and effective processes of the operational business are also rewarded, including the avoidance of food waste.
In terms of operations, Farmy has already set itself further milestones: examples include the expansion of the e-fleet (partly e-bikes) for the fine distribution of food and the health and safety concept for employees is to be further expanded. Furthermore, the cooperation with producers in relation to the optimisation of the value chain will continue to be strengthened.
Credit: Farmy
Continuous improvement
Anja Constien, sustainability manager and project manager of the B Corp certification at Farmy, is pleased with the high score, but at the same time sees this as an opportunity: "We are very happy about our score of 103.6 points. Of course, there is still a lot of room for improvement. With the B Corp certification, we have joined a movement that helps us to approach sustainable success in an even more determined way."
Farmy is the prime example of a company where sustainability has been one of the most important aspects since its very establishment. In implementing sustainability, Farmy integrates economic success and social-ecological action in the long term. The B Corp certification provides a framework for continuous improvement and is thus the perfect companion on our journey towards more sustainability.
Sébastien Chahidi, Certification Manager (SME) at B Lab™ Switzerland: “We are very proud to welcome Farmy in the Swiss B Corp community. Their sustainability commitments are highly valuable and demonstrate how business can be a force for good. We truly believe that alongside the B Corp Magic Tomato, Farmy’s certification will act as a trigger for other players in the food and online markets industry to join the movement and thus accelerate the transformation of the economic system into a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative global economy.“
What does B Corp mean?
The name of the certification is composed of the “B” for “benefit” and “Corp” for “Corporation”. B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency.
Companies that have been awarded the B Corp certification have been verified for the highest social and environmental criteria, transparency and accountability. From the value chain to input materials, donations to charitable organisations and employee bonuses, the company is holistically scrutinised.
The social and environmental impacts of the core business as well as the operational business are measured by a comprehensive set of 200 questions within five different impact areas of the B Impact Assessment, or BIA for short. These are: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. A verified score of at least 80 out of 200 points must be achieved by a company to be certified and join the B Corp community.
Sustainability Manager Anja Constien also assesses the process of certification as very helpful: "The certification serves simultaneously as a motivator, guideline and reference point to continuously review and further improve the social-ecological impact of the company on the way to 200 points."
Long-term commitment
In addition to achieving at least 80 points on social and environmental performance, Farmy had to undergo a risk assessment and legally commit to a corporate governance structure. This structure is designed to make Farmy transparent and accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Furthermore, Farmy had to agree that information on the company's social and environmental performance will be made transparent. This can be seen in its B Corp profile on the online, global B Corps Directory.
With the support of B Lab Switzerland and that of the Community, Farmy is now on the path to continuous improvement of its processes revolving around environmental and social sustainability. Re-certification takes place every three years. On the way to the next round of certification, Farmy is ambitious to advance the goals that the company has already set itself during the certification process.
In line with B Lab's motto: "Use the business as a force of good!", Farmy wants to join the other 5,000 companies from over 80 countries that have joined the B Corp movement in advancing the positive impact on society and nature.
About Farmy
Farmy offers a wide selection of hand-picked products from more than 1,200 authentic producers. Thanks to its excellent logistics concept, Farmy delivers these products directly to your door in an incomparably fresh, emission-reduced and time-saving manner. In the metropolitan regions of Zurich, Basel, Winterthur, Lausanne and Geneva, delivery is even free of charge and with the company's own fleet of e-mobiles. The offer ranges from a wide variety of fruits and vegetables – mostly in organic quality – to a huge cheese assortment from Swiss cheese dairies, the largest offer of meat in butcher quality, crispy delicacies and sweet temptations from real bakers and confectioners to flowers and products for the pantry as well as drugstore articles. In short, everything you need for your weekly shopping. Because it’s better.
About B Lab Switzerland
B Lab Switzerland is the Swiss branch of B Lab, a nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet. The nonprofit supports businesses in the B Corp certification process and provides them with the tools to measure and improve their impact. A solution-oriented sustainability programme was also developed by B Lab Switzerland: the Swiss Triple Impact (STI). To date, the Swiss community includes over 70 certified B Corporations (B Corps) and at global level, over 5,000 companies are certified B Corps, in 80 countries and 155 industries. Find more information here: blab-switzerland.ch/
Press contact
Roman Hartmann (Co-CEO and Co-Founder)
Mobil: +41 76 215 27 62
E-Mail: roman@farmy.ch
Click on the following link to directly download the press release in all languages in PDF format as well as the images: farmy.plus/farmybcorp
