GLOBALG.A.P. – Good Agricultural Practices

G.A.P stands for Good Agricultural Practice and GLOBALG.A.P. is a worldwide organization with its main objective being safe, sustainable agriculture, throughout the world. They set voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe – and more and more producers, suppliers, and buyers are harmonizing their certification standards to match the organization’s Purpose. Within GLOBALG.A.P. there are 40+ standards and programs, 193,000+ producers under certification in 131 countries, 44 National Technical Working Groups, 42 accreditation bodies, 160 certification bodies, 1,200+ inspectors and 800+ auditors.

GLOBALG.A.P., also known as GLOBALG.A.P. INTEGRATED FARM ASSURANCE, is the world’s leading farm assurance program and is a benchmarked scheme recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

GLOBALG.A.P.’s roots began in 1997 as EUREPGAP, an initiative by retailers belonging to the Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group. British retailers working together with supermarkets in continental Europe became aware of consumers’ growing concerns regarding product safety, environmental impact and the health, safety and welfare of workers and animals. Their solution was to Harmonize their own standards and procedures and develop an independent certification system for Good Agricultural Practice.

Between 1997 and 2007, EurepGAP became a leader in farm certification schemes throughout Europe but its goal was to become the leading international G.A.P. Standard. In September 2007, EurepGAP changed its name to GLOBALG.A.P., as a reflection of the organization’s worldwide reach.

Most retailers and consumers are demanding that the producers they buy from adhere to G.A.P. standards and GLOBALG.A.P. certification ensures them that the producers have met these standards.

The GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance Standard V5.1 Offers a Flexible, Modular and Customized Solution for Certification

GLOBALG.A.P. covers the following five areas for certification:

• Food safety and traceability
• Workers’ health, safety, and welfare
• Animal Welfare
• Environment (including biodiversity)
• Integrated Crop Management (ICM), Integrated Pest Control (IPC), Quality Management System (QMS), and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)

 
In addition, the standard allows producers to get certified for several sub-scopes in one audit. It consists of:

• General Regulations: These are the criteria for implementation of the CPCC and guidelines for the verification and regulation of the standard.
• Control Points and Compliance Criteria (CPCC): These are the defined requirements for achieving the quality standard required by GLOBALG.A.P.

The Control Points and Compliance Criteria (CPCC) are also modular based, consisting of:

• The All Farm Base Module: All producers must meet this first requirement to obtain certification. It is the foundation of all the standards.
• The Scope Module: This defines clear criteria based on the different food production sectors. GLOBALG.A.P. covers 3 scopes: Crops, Livestock and Aquaculture.
• The Sub-Scope Module: These CPCC cover all the requirements for a particular product or different aspect of the food production and supply chain.

All producers must comply with the All Farm Base Module first, as it is the foundation for all of the standards.

Producers must then comply with all of the CPCC relevant for their scope and sub-scope. For example, a strawberry grower must comply with the All Farm Base CPCC, the Crops Standard CPCC and the Fruit & Vegetables CPCC to receive a GLOBALG.A.P. IFA Fruit & Vegetables Standard Certificate.

Within the 3 scope modules, there are additional sub-scopes:

CB – Crops Base:

• FV – Fruit and Vegetables
• FO – Flowers and Ornamentals
• CC – Combinable Crops
• TE – Tea
• PPM – Plant Propagation Material

AB – Aquaculture Standard:

• Finfish, Crustaceans, 7 Molluscs

LB – Livestock Base:

• PG – Pigs
• PY – Poultry
• TY – Turkey
• CS – Cattle & Sheep
  – DY – Dairy
  – CYB – Calf/Young Beef

 
In addition to choosing the module(s) which best suit the producer, there are 2 options for certification:

OPTION 1: SINGLE PRODUCER CERTIFICATION

A single farmer receives a certificate after a successful audit by an approved certification body.

OPTION 2: PRODUCER GROUP CERTIFICATION

A group of producers with a shared mandatory Quality Management System receives one certificate for the whole group after a successful audit by an approved certification body.

GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) V5.1 contains 3 main products and over 40 standards and programs They are divided into the three following groups:

• LocalG.A.P. is a key building block for producers who need GLOBALG.A.P. IFA certification to access demanding markets. With this tool buyers will be able to increase their sourcing possibilities by developing a network of reliable producers – namely, GLOBALG.A.P. IFA.
• LocalG.A.P. offers two (2), ready to use solutions:
  – Foundation level
  – Intermediate level
• LocalG.A.P. – customized solution

GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) V5.1. has several sub-scopes:

• Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA)
• Produce Safety Assurance (PSA)
• Produce Handling Assurance (PHA)
• Crops for Processing (CfP)
• Harmonized Produce Safety (HPSS)
• Chain of Custody Standard (CoC)
• Compound Feed Manufacturing Standard (CFM)
• Livestock Transport Standard (LT)
• Crops for Processing Standard (CPTS)
• Harmonized Produce Safety Standard (HPSS)
• Produce Handling Assurance Standard (PHA)

GLOBALG.A.P. +ADD-ON – Following are some of the add-on modules that can be selected if a producer wants to add it or if it is required by one of their purchasers:

• GRASP – GLOBALG.A.P. Risk Assessment on Social Practice Add-on
• AW – Animal Welfare Add-ons for poultry/broiler Chicken and Finishing Pigs
• ROS – Responsible Operations Standard – Add-on for Compound feed manufacturers
• TR4 – R4 Biosecurity for Bananas
• GGFSA – GLOBALG.A.P. Farm Sustainability Assessment Add-on
• SPRING – Sustainable Program for irrigation and groundwater use
• FSMA PSR – Food Safety Modernization Act produce safety rule add-on
• NON-GM – Non-GM add-on for the aquaculture and livestock sector