Good Agricultural Practices Adoption in Global Supply Chains

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) have become a cornerstone for ensuring food safety, environmental stewardship and socio-economic sustainability within global supply chains. GAP adoption encompasses a spectrum of measures, including proper soil management, optimised input use, efficient water management, integrated pest management and post-harvest handling protocols. In an era where consumers, retailers and regulators demand transparency and compliance with safety and environmental standards, certification schemes and private–public partnerships have proliferated. However, uptake varies widely across regions and commodity groups, influenced by farm size, market access, resource availability and institutional support. Embedding GAP within multi-tier value chains requires harmonised standards, robust auditing mechanisms and digital traceability to ensure consistency from producer to consumer. Advances in remote sensing, data analytics and mobile advisory platforms are reshaping compliance monitoring and linking smallholders to premium markets. Despite technological progress, persistent challenges in low-income contexts—such as infrastructure gaps, limited extension capacity and insufficient financial incentives—underscore the need for integrated approaches that align economic, environmental and social objectives.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have mapped the efficacy of incentive-based programmes in driving the uptake of sustainable agricultural practices across diverse systems. Schemes offering immediate economic returns achieve higher adoption rates than those focused solely on long-term ecological benefits. The research underlines the pivotal role of combining financial incentives with targeted technical assistance and extension services to improve both environmental performance and farm productivity. Furthermore, adaptive policy design that accounts for farmers’ socio-economic characteristics and the inherent trade-offs they encounter has been shown to produce more enduring compliance and behaviour change within supply chains.

Good Agricultural Practices Adoption in Global Supply Chains publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in good agricultural practices adoption in global supply chains across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP): A set of guidelines and procedures designed to ensure the safety, quality and sustainability of agricultural products throughout production and handling.

Certification scheme: A formal process by which an independent body assesses and verifies that a producer or product meets predefined GAP standards.

Extension services: Advisory and training programmes provided to farmers to enhance knowledge transfer, foster capacity building and support adoption of improved practices.

Incentive mechanisms: Financial or non-financial instruments, such as subsidies, premium prices or technical assistance, intended to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable practices.

Traceability: The ability to track the movement of agricultural goods through all stages of production, processing and distribution to ensure compliance with safety and quality standards.

References

1. A scoping review on incentives for adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and their outcomes. Nature Sustainability (2020).
2. Investigating the relationship between knowledge and the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices: The case of Dutch arable farmers. Journal of Cleaner Production (2023).
3. Chili Pepper Farmers’ Pesticide Use and Residues under Thailand’s Public Good Agricultural Practices Standard: A Case Study in Chiang Mai Province. Agriculture (2023).
4. A hydroponic vegetable business management approach in holistic good agricultural practices in Thailand. Frontiers in Sustainability (2024).