Policies for
sustainable practices
What incentives will lead farmers to adopt environmentally sustainable practices?
Photo: World Bank Photo Collection.
When people think about agriculture, they tend to think about the very tangible here-and-now issues of water, pests, and diseases that arise on farmers’ fields. But food systems are much bigger and more complex than meets the eye, and forward-thinking international policies on trade and food security are the hidden backbone of a functional global market. These policies help us ensure that food systems work today. And when these policies and incentives are calibrated to local contexts, they can also help ensure that we are on path to making the right changes for the future.
Our synthesis will look at the evidence on incentives for farmers to adopt best farming practices. It will examine whether these best practices are effective at increasing productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability. The implementation of these sustainable practices may, however, require significant effort from farmers and the support of governments and public-private partnerships at national and local levels. The outputs from this review will be able to guide decision-makers in considering the range of possible policy solutions to encourage best practices for a more sustainable future.
Research team
Valeria Piñeiro
Lead author, Senior Research Coordinator, International Food and Policy Research Institute
Pablo Elverdin
Strategy and Content Coordinator, Group of Producing Countries of the Southern Cone
Ana María Ibáñez
Professor, School of Economics, Universidad de los Andes; Principal Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank
Jessica Page
Librarian, Veterinary Medicine, Food, Animal and Environment Sciences, Ohio State University
Maximo Torero
Assistant Director General, Economic and Social Development Department, UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Research protocol
The full details of the the protocol for this evidence synthesis are available on the OSF open platform run by the Center for Open Science.
Ceres 2030 is a partnership between Cornell IP-CALS, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD)