Agricultural Certification Research Articles

A Comparative Study of ISO/IEC 17065:2012 Standards, Accreditation Processes Implemented in Turkey Regarding Turkish Organic Agriculture Legislations

In this study, the ISO 17065:2012 Conformity Assessment—through comparisons between the required standards for organizations that provide certifications towards products, processes, and services, and the programs regarding the certification of organic agricultural practices in Turkey that are regulated by Turkish Regulations on Principles and Implementation of Organic Agriculture, some recommendations are developed for applications in similar countries, by investigating the similar or contradictory issues surrounding the conformity assessment activities with the regulations published in this field. To contribute to the management and improvement of the certification and accreditation processes of the conformity assessment bodies carrying out the certification activities of the agricultural certification programs within the scope of the ISO 17065:2012 standard, the degree of compliance has been identified by comparing the requirements of the Regulations on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Agriculture. The compatibility of these documents and the absence of conflict in these practices will provide a sense of confidence for all relevant parties, including consumers benefiting from the organic market. According to the conclusions of this evaluation, comparison results were interpreted, taking into account the degrees of compliance from the perspectives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey that carries out the provisions of the Regulation on the Principles and Implementation of Organic Agriculture, the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TURKAK) that carries out accreditation activities according to the Regulation, and the certification bodies that are the implementers of the standards mentioned above and regulations, the problem areas were determined, and recommendations have been developed. The national problems in this context have been specified, and recommendations were developed based on observations and examinations of ISO 17065:2012 international standard.

Impact of palm oil sustainability certification on village well-being and poverty in Indonesia

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has emerged as the leading sustainability certification system to tackle socioenvironmental issues associated with the oil palm industry. However, the effectiveness of certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in achieving its socioeconomic objectives remains uncertain. We evaluate the impact of certification on village-level well-being across Indonesia by applying counterfactual analysis to multidimensional government poverty data. We compare poverty across 36,311 villages between 2000 and 2018, tracking changes from before oil palm plantations were first established to several years after plantations were certified. Certification was associated with reduced poverty in villages with primarily market-based livelihoods, but not in those in which subsistence livelihoods were dominant before switching to oil palm. We highlight the importance of baseline village livelihood systems in shaping local impacts of agricultural certification and assert that oil palm certification in certain village contexts may require additional resources to ensure socioeconomic objectives are realized. A study of over 36,000 villages in Indonesia shows that palm oil eco-certification reduces poverty in market-oriented villages but increases it in subsistence villages.

Mohammed Armani.

Mohammed Armani.

Сертифікація сільськогосподарської продукції у Львівській області: організаційні аспекти та основні проблеми

Сертифікація сільськогосподарської продукції у Львівській області: організаційні аспекти та основні проблеми

Agroforestry Standards for Regenerative Agriculture

Agroforestry is increasingly being recognized as a holistic food production system that can have numerous significant environmental, economic, and social benefits. This growing recognition is paralleled in the USA by the budding interest in regenerative agriculture and motivation to certify regenerative practices. Current efforts to develop a regenerative agriculture certification offer an opportunity to consider agroforestry’s role in furthering regenerative goals. To understand this opportunity, we first examine how agroforestry practices can advance regenerative agriculture’s five core environmental concerns: soil fertility and health, water quality, biodiversity, ecosystem health, and carbon sequestration. Next, we review a subset of certification programs, standards, guidelines, and associated scientific literature to understand existing efforts to standardize agroforestry. We determine that development of an agroforestry standard alongside current efforts to certify regenerative agriculture offers an opportunity to leverage common goals and strengths of each. Additionally, we determine that there is a lack of standards with measurable criteria available for agroforestry, particularly in temperate locations. Lastly, we propose a framework and general, measurable criteria for an agroforestry standard that could potentially be implemented as a standalone standard or built into existing agriculture, forestry, or resource conservation certification programs.

The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: A systematic review

Certification systems (CS) set and monitor voluntary standards to make agricultural production sustainable in socio-economic terms and agricultural trade fairer for producers and workers. They try to achieve a wide range of socio-economic and environmental effects through bundles of interventions that include the process of standard setting and compliance, advocacy among consumers, capacity building for producers, building supply chains, price interventions, and the application of acceptable labour standards, overall to improve the wellbeing of farmers and agricultural workers. This paper presents the results of a mixed-method systematic review that synthesized the literature on socio-economic effects of certification systems on agricultural producers and wage workers in low and middle income countries. The review followed the Campbell Collaboration guidelines for systematic reviews, and included studies published between 1990 and 2016 in different languages, with evidence on low and middle income countries. The review included a quantitative effectiveness question focused on a range of intermediate (e.g. prices, wages) and endpoint outcomes (e.g. household income). It also included a question on barriers, facilitators and contextual factors shaping effectiveness which drew on qualitative or mixed-method studies. Eligible certification systems were based on second- (industry-level) or third-party certifications, and excluded own-company standards. For the effectiveness review, quantitative impact evaluations must use experimental or non-experimental methods demonstrating control for selection bias. With these inclusion criteria, the review includes 43 studies used for analysing quantitative effects, and 136 qualitative studies for synthesizing barriers, enablers and other contextual factors. Most included studies report on initiatives in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa and focus primarily on agricultural producers. The quality of the included studies is mixed, and several studies are weak on a number of methodological fronts, especially on statistical reporting. Overall, there is limited and mixed evidence on the effects of CS on a range of intermediate and final socio-economic outcomes for agricultural producers and wage workers. There are positive effects on prices and income from the sale of produce is higher for certified farmers. However, workers' wages do not seem to benefit from the presence of CS and, further along the causal chain, we find no evidence that total household income improves with certification. The integrated synthesis of quantitative and qualitative studies shows that context matters substantially in all causal chains and multiple factors shape the effectiveness and causal mechanisms that link interventions associated with certification and the wellbeing of producers, workers and their families.

Rice Pricing during Organic Conversion of the Honghe Hani Rice Terrace System in China

In 2002, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization initiated the Globally Important Agriculture Heritage Systems conservation program. Agricultural organic certification, based on traditional environmentally friendly technology, increases farmer income and encourages traditional agricultural heritage. However, during the organic conversion period, farmer income cannot be guaranteed; this period is also a bottleneck for heritage conservation via organic certification. Based on experiences at the Honghe Hani rice terrace system in Yunnan, China, we calculated and compared inputs and outputs of traditional and modern systems during organic conversion and developed a calculation method for determining opportunity costs of agricultural production. We found that the stability of farmer income during conversion can be guaranteed by setting the protective purchasing price at 6.93 CNY/kg, thereby achieving the goal of dynamic conservation of agricultural heritage systems.

The challenges of screening and synthesising qualitative research in a mixed-methods systematic review. The case of the impact of agricultural certification schemes

ABSTRACTThe number of mixed-methods systematic reviews in international development is growing in recent years. By recognising the value of qualitative research in providing valuable evidence on causal mechanisms, barriers, facilitators and the importance of context, mixed-methods systematic reviews go beyond the ‘what works’ question. However, appropriate methods to screen and synthesise qualitative evidence in these reviews are still in a development phase, and the methodological literature dealing with reviewing qualitative evidence in the field of development studies is scarce and under-developed. This paper aims to contribute to this gap by discussing the methodological and practical challenges of including qualitative evidence in a mixed-methods systematic review in international development. In particular, this article makes a contribution in terms of offering reviewers and users of systematic reviews a full account of the process of screening and synthesising a very large volume of heterogeneous qualitative studies. Using as an example a review on the effects of certification schemes for agricultural production, we report on each reviewing step, describing the problems encountered and solutions found. The paper proposes ways of extracting a large volume of data and integrating the qualitative synthesis with the evidence from the related quantitative effectiveness review.

Where are commodity crops certified, and what does it mean for conservation and poverty alleviation?

Voluntary sustainability standards have expanded dramatically over the last decade. In the agricultural sector, such standards aim to ensure environmentally and socially sustainable production of a variety of commodity crops. However, little is known about where agricultural certification operates and whether certified lands are best located for conserving the world's most important biodiversity and benefiting the most vulnerable producers. To examine these questions we developed the first global map of commodity crop certification, synthesizing data from over one million farms to reveal the distribution of certification in unprecedented detail. It highlights both geographical clusters of certification as well as spatial bias in the location of certification with respect to environmental, livelihood and physical variables. Excluding organic certification, for which spatial data were not available, most certification of commodity crops is in tropical regions. Certification appears to be concentrated in areas important for biodiversity conservation, but not in those areas most in need of poverty alleviation, although there were exceptions to each of these patterns. We argue that the impact of sustainability standards could be increased by identifying places where it would be most beneficial to strengthen, consolidate, and expand certification. To achieve this, standards organizations will need to undertake more rigorous collection of spatial data, and more detailed analysis of their existing reach and impacts, with attention to potential trade-offs between different objectives. Efforts to promote spatial prioritization will require new partnerships to align specific conservation aims with the interests and capabilities of farmers.

The role of FSC certification to maintain sustainability: the case of Precious Woods Amazon Company

The objective of this study is to analyze the role of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for the maintenance of sustainability in the Amazon, considering the specific case of the timber Precious Woods Amazon (PWA), trying to understand the fundamental aspects of this certification program, the environmental benefits generated and the challenges for the conservation and promotion of sustainable development of the Amazon. As base of information, essentially was used the sources of data of the Forest Stewardship Council data (FSC), the Institute of Agricultural and Forest Management and Certification (IMAFLORA) and Precious Woods Amazon (PWA). The FSC certification has been considered an important instrument for the conservation of global sustainability, through their strict principles and criteria that enable forest management occurs in an environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable. In this perspective, the PWA has contributed significantly to the conservation of the Amazon, making it a world reference in sustainable use of forests. Despite the harsh criticism existing on the veracity of their practices, the available data revealed to be unquestionable the importance of PWA promoting sustainable development in the region, because since its inception the protected areas have been expanded, in addition, the company generates decent jobs, clean energy and income for these isolated areas in the interior of Amazon, also fostering productive traditional practices in the communities that surround them. Many are the challenges to market expansion certificate in the Amazon, requiring efficient actions to foster it, promoting the spread of information, supervision and implementation of beneficial policies directed to local conditions, so that forest certification become a reality in the market, not only internationally, but also location. Environmental certification is a green and responsible development, becoming a worldwide trend at recent times.

Promotion of the Low-carbon Agriculture Certification System

Promotion of the Low-carbon Agriculture Certification System

Local alternatives to private agricultural certification in Ecuador: Broadening access to ‘new markets’?

One option for sustaining smallholder peasant (campesino in Spanish) agriculture and diversified agricultural production systems in is improved access to niche markets or ‘new markets’ (Hebinck et al., 2015). However a common pre-requisite to enter these markets is private third party agricultural certification. Most agricultural certification initiatives, such as organic and Fairtrade, are private initiatives that are costly for small-producers with limited access to capital. This study analyzes the role local governments can play in through public certification, analyzing three certification initiatives created by provincial governments in Ecuador. These cases convert certification into a public rather than a private good and potentially broaden access to certification by marginalized producers. However our research concluded that access to certification may not be effective if it is not accompanied by other measures and policies favorable to small-scale producers.

Livelihood diversification with certification‐supported farming: The case of land reform beneficiaries in the Philippines

AbstractThe promotion of intensive farming through organic and fair trade certification appears contradictory to the increasing significance of non‐farm income sources in rural Asia as well as in many other parts of the rural South. By observing a sugarcane producer co‐operative comprising land reform beneficiaries in the Philippines, this paper explores the reality of livelihood diversification as practised by member households of the certified co‐operative, focusing on the compatibility of certification‐supported farming with diversified activities. In this case, diversification at the household level progressed both away from farming and into farming. Behind the long‐term use of agricultural certification, there are compelling reasons for continuing both certification‐supported farming and diversified activities, and for employing mechanisms that further the compatibility at all phases between the former and the latter, and maximising income‐generating opportunities. The operation of communal land with agricultural certification may be an effective form of assistance to land reform beneficiaries who share a strong desire to be landowners.

From governance to government: The strengthened role of state bureaucracies in forest and agricultural certification

Private institutions for third-party (eco-)labelling of food and wood products has been a lively field of empirical research, peaking in the conception of certification as a “non-state market-driven governance system,” which is gaining rule-making authority domestically and internationally as a private governance institution and a transnational regime. Recent findings, however, suggest that state actors also play a decisive role in private certification governance. Questions relating to who within the state, however, so far remain unaddressed. Very recent empirical trends in the fields of timber and palm oil certification in Indonesia suggest that it is distinct public bureaucracies who start reclaiming certification authority through state-led mandatory schemes, challenging the private and transnational certification institutions in support of government-driven international certification regimes. Against this background, the objective of this paper is to substantiate the trend from transnational private to international state-driven governance by analyzing the role of distinct state bureaucracies in the emergence, diffusion, and reshaping of private natural resource governance systems. To achieve these objectives, we develop our propositions by combining insights from political certification studies, regime theory, as well as bureaucratic politics theory. Methodologically, we employ a qualitative case study design on recent developments in forest, timber, and palm oil certification systems in Argentina and Indonesia. Our results substantiate the observation that distinct state actors play a key role in private governance systems and, in the case of Indonesia, even re-claim labelling authority from private institutions by attempting to outcompete them through employing their exclusive regulatory power. The results further indicate a strong, self-interested support from domestic state bureaucracies to state-driven international rather than to transnational certification regimes, supporting the temporary governance hypothesis. We discuss and conclude on our results in light of literatures on private governance, policy sectors as well as international relations theory on the emergence of international and transnational regimes.

The potential of REDD+ in supporting the transition to a Green Economy in the Congo Basin

SUMMARY This study explores how the proposed activities by the Congo Basin countries to reduce drivers of land emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) could support the transition to a green economy and low carbon development future. By employing a content review and analysis of national REDD+ strategies and REDD+ readiness proposals submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, we found out that many of the proposed REDD+ activities by the Congo Basin countries including: climate smart agricultural practices and certification of large scale agricultural plantations; establishment of wood fuel energy plantations and improvement in energy efficiency; forests certification and implementation of the VPA-FLEGT; land use planning and zoning of mined sites; and the implementation of construction projects in low forested areas aligns with several green economy sectorial programmes of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). We conclude that the effective implementation...

中国有机农产品认证的风险管理和营销策略分析

本文解读了中国有机产品认证流程，并分析出有机农产品生产者在产品认证初期，尤其是转换期，所面临的来自生产加工和市场销售两大环节主要风险，这包括了病虫草害控制、成本价格控制、以及营销管理三个方面。结合当下中国农产品认证体系的分析，以及对目标消费者行为的判断，本文提出了转换期产品认证多样化以及产品线延伸或品牌延伸的品牌战略，从而降低国内有机农产品认证的风险并提升产品市场营销表现。 This paper aims to propose strategies in agriculture certification management and branding in order for organic agriculture risk management. The interpretation of China’s organic product certification mechanism indicates that the risk in early of the organic certification application process includes pest control, weed control, insect control, cost control, as well as marketing management. Through analysis of China’s agriculture certification mechanism and consumer behavior, a multi-certificates strategy is proposed in order for reduce the risk in the early stage, and another product line extension and brand extension strategies are proposed in order for boosting up the new entrant organic product’s market performance.

Towards State Hegemony Over Agricultural Certification: From Voluntary Private to Mandatory State Regimes on Palm Oil in Indonesia

Previous work on certification of palm oil has reported on a trend toward a change, from failed state regulation to voluntary, private governance. However, recent observations suggest a trend, moving from voluntary, private governance to mandatory state governance in palm oil certification in Indonesia, a move in which the state is reclaiming authority. In this light, the aims of our research are (1) to identify the main actors involved in certification politics, (2) to explain this trend in terms of the actors' interests and whatever benefits may result for them. We developed our research questions based on bureaucratic politics and power theory. A mix of document analysis, interviews, and observations are applied for addressing the questions. The results answer our research questions, i.e., that (1) the state claims back its authority over certification from private actors and contributed to the complex meta governance of palm oil certification, the state mandatory scheme that is supported by states' bureaucracies in charge reduces the influence of non-government or private actors. (2) This trend is due to a coalition of specific state bureaucracies and big industry interests, which grant privileges to industry that are denied to small producers. Unexpectedly, all Indonesian bureaucracies associated with this trend support mandatory state certification, which indicates that palm oil has been elevated in importance to become a matter of national, rather than mere bureaucratic interest. Making certification mandatory through coercive regulatory power is the main tool with which state power can challenge voluntary implementation and reclaim authority. Furthermore, the state needs the voluntary system to exist as well in order to strengthen its position. Therefore, the voluntary and the compulsory systems collaborate to attract global initiatives, which is contributing to the high complex of meta governance.

Survey about the most important CCPs of the Agricultural Certification Systems in Greece

Aim of our research was to compare the Critical Control Points (CCPs), between the three agricultural certification systems: Organic Agriculture (OA), Integrated Management (IM) and Conventional Agriculture (CA). For the collection of the information we used non-structured and in-depth interviews, as well as closed-ended questionnaires. A total of 25 people from various fields, always related to agriculture and particularly to certification, attended the interviews. Among those who participated in the interviews were academics, directors of certification organisations and cooperatives, journalists and others. Correspondingly, the sample of persons who completed the questionnaires included people involved in the agricultural sector (eg. producers, processors etc.), constituted of a representative sample of our research target group. Concluding, we found that in Greece the most important CCPs of the three agricultural certification systems were: a) the subsidy in OA production, b) the pricing of IM products and c) the lack of state control in CA.

국내외 농산물 인증마크에 대한 소비자 인식의 비교

Abstract The purpose of the study is to determine how consumers perceive certification marks for agricultural products. The studyexamined three agricultural product certifications, such as the certification of environment-friendly agricultural products,Good Agricultural Procuts (GAP) certification mark, and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification mark.A survey was utilized for data collection from adults over the age of 19 in November, 2013. A total of 390 questionnaireswere distributed, and 300 of those were obtained for an analysis of the study. The results were as follows. First, consumers'awareness of, image of, and credibility on the agricultural products with the certification marks were not significantly differ entamong the three certification marks except consumers’ awareness. Second, consumers’ purchase intentions for andwillingness to pay for the agricultural products with the certification marks were not significantly different among the threecertification marks. Third, these variables were not significantly different between buying group and non-buying groupexcept consumers’ awareness. Lastly, buying group and non-buying group were significantly different only in gender andmarital status. The findings offer implications to the food and food service industry regarding consumers’ purchase ofcertified agricultural products. Further, the study enforces the roles of food industry for environment.Key Words: Agricultural products certification, environment-friendly agricultural products certification marks, GAP,USDA, food service

Whole-System Agricultural Certification: Using Lessons Learned from LEED to Build a Resilient Agricultural System to Adapt to Climate Change

This Article proposes a novel approach to addressing global climate change’s impacts on agricultural production and food security. The climate change crisis is the most significant environmental issue facing our planet. The changes predicted to occur as the earth’s climate warms include significant impacts to agriculture. At the same time that the planet is undergoing dramatic climatic changes, the global population is increasing, and economic development in many parts of the world is exerting increased demand for a greater and more diverse supply of food. The relationship between climate change and agriculture is a close and complex one, as the current system of agricultural production both contributes to, and will be impacted by, the effects of increased climate change phenomena. On the one hand, fossil fuel-intensive practices associated with the current industrialized agricultural system significantly contribute to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions considered to be the major cause of climate change. On the other, the predicted changes in global temperature and rainfall patterns associated with climate change have the potential to dramatically impact agricultural production. Changing weather conditions associated with climate change will likely impact agricultural production, affect food pricing, and reduce both global per capita calorie consumption and the nutritional value of some food, thereby increasing child malnutrition. Because of the close