Fisher & Farmer · Pending Certification
Built to Be Better
B Corp certification is one of the most rigorous standards of social and environmental performance in business. We began the process in January 2026.
B Corp certification is awarded by B Lab, a nonprofit organisation that assesses companies across five pillars of performance: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. To become certified, a company must achieve a verified score of 80 or above on the B Impact Assessment — a rigorous, independently verified process that examines everything from supply chain practices to employee benefits to environmental impact.
Fewer than 10,000 companies worldwide hold B Corp certification. Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders — not just shareholders — and to publish annual benefit reports demonstrating their commitment to that standard. B Corp is not a product label or a marketing claim. It is a whole-company certification, and it means something.
Fisher & Farmer exists to support food and sporting cultural sovereignty — the idea that communities should have agency over what they eat, how land is managed, and what traditions are passed on. That mission is inherently relational. It connects readers to producers, to landscapes, to the animals and plants they depend on. B Corp certification gives that mission a framework and a measure. It holds us accountable not only to our readers and partners, but to the broader communities and ecosystems our journalism covers. It means our commercial decisions — how we source, how we hire, how we grow — must be consistent with the values we publish.
We are also pursuing certification because we believe the media industry needs more of it. Independent publishers have a particular responsibility to demonstrate that editorial integrity and business integrity are not in conflict.
The Five Pillars
Our Commitments
Governance
Transparent editorial governance, clear separation between commercial and editorial decision-making, and a stated mission that is binding on the business — not aspirational language in a marketing document.
Workers
Fair pay for contributors and staff, transparent rates, prompt payment, and working conditions that reflect the value of good journalism. We do not commission on spec without consent, and we do not withhold payment for editorial disagreements.
Community
Our journalism exists in service of rural and food-producing communities. We commit to giving those communities voice, covering their challenges accurately, and not treating them as picturesque backdrop.
Environment
Minimising the environmental footprint of our operations, sourcing responsibly where we have supply chain involvement, and covering environmental issues — including those that touch our readership’s livelihoods — with rigour and fairness.
Customers & Readers
Our members trust us with their attention and their money. We commit to protecting their data, being honest about what we publish and why, never selling their information, and providing genuine value in return.
We are not asking anyone to trust our intentions. We are asking B Lab to audit our practices. That is the difference.
In Practice
School Meals & Aquaculture
The Work Behind the Words
B Corp is not just a badge. It shapes which contracts we bid for and how we deliver them. Fisher & Farmer’s commercial entities are actively bidding on school meals supply contracts in Ireland — a sector where the gap between what children deserve and what they currently receive is a national scandal.
Ireland’s Hot School Meals Programme serves over half a million students at a cost of €280 million a year. Independent assessment has found that a third of the meals on offer fail to meet even basic nutritional standards. Children in Irish classrooms are being served reheated, ultra-processed food shipped from overseas production lines — while local farmers, fishers, and food producers are locked out of the supply chain.
We intend to change that. Our model is locally sourced, scratch-cooked food — meals made from ingredients produced by the communities those schools serve. This is not charity work. It is a commercial contract, bid for and delivered through our B Corp–certified entities, with margins that fund the Fisher & Farmer Foundation.
Seaweed & Science
We are also actively bidding on seaweed hatchery and aquaculture projects through Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s Seaweed Development Services programme and related initiatives under Ireland’s national Macro-Algal Strategy.
Our plan is to convert an existing farm building at Derrintin, at the head of Killary Harbour, into a licensed seaweed hatchery investigating the cultivation potential of native species with high-value applications in food, pharmaceuticals, and the bioeconomy. This is the same model: bid commercially, deliver something the country actually needs, and use the margins and infrastructure to advance the Foundation’s conservation and community work.
Progress
Where We Are
We registered with B Lab and began the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive evaluation of our governance, environmental, social, and community practices across all Fisher & Farmer entities.
We are currently compiling documentation across all five pillars, including editorial governance policies, contributor payment terms, environmental practices, and community engagement commitments.
B Lab will conduct an independent verification review, including a desk review of submitted documentation and, in many cases, an on-site or virtual audit.
Upon achieving a verified score of 80 or above, Fisher & Farmer will become a Certified B Corporation. We will publish a full benefit report along with our verified score.
To learn more about B Corp certification, visit bcorporation.net. To read about the Fisher & Farmer Foundation and our broader community commitments, visit our Foundation page.
Questions? Get in touch.