Using its eighth annual conference in Bangkok this week as an appropriate platform, EurepGAP will today announce it is changing its title and logo to GLOBALGAP.
The decision has been taken to reflect the farm assurance standard’s expanding international role in establishing Good Agricultural Practices mutually agreed between multiple retailers and their suppliers.
In the decade since its formation by a small group of European retailers that initially sought to harmonise minimum standards in fresh produce across Europe, the voluntary organisation has seen its influence spread, both in range of products and geographically. Identical criteria have now been adopted through a benchmarking process, as far afield as South and Central America, Africa, Australasia, and most recently Japan and Thailand.
The GLOBALGAP name takes over a scheme with 38 retail and foodservice members, that has firmly established itself as a reference point for good agricultural practices around the world. Established equivalent schemes, such as ChileGAP, ChinaGAP, KenyaGAP, MexicoGAP, JGAP (Japan) and ThaiGAP, are backed by national governments, retailers, producers and exporters.
From its roots in fruit and veg, the scheme has branched out into a variety of other crops, as well as livestock and the aquaculture, compound feed and plant propagation sectors. The acceleration of the scheme’s expansion has been dramatic. At the end of July 2007, the number of producers certified by one of more than 100 independent accreditation bodies had risen by nearly 450 per cent since 2004.
“Currently, GLOBALGAP covers more than 80,000 certified producers in no fewer than 80 countries, with others expected to follow,” said the scheme’s chairman Nigel Garbutt. “It has meant that through the adoption of good agricultural practices subject to regular independent monitoring, committed producers regardless of their scale can compete on an equal footing.
“The reason for the name change is that it now makes common sense to clarify our far wider role, at a time when both producers and retailers are operating on an international level across national boundaries. It is a natural evolution for us - we are working very closely with officials in governments around the world, and the name was being confused as being part of the European Commission, which was more of a hindrance,” he told FPJ.
Kristian Moeller, GLOBALGAP secretary, added: “By positively aligning ourselves in this way, it allows us to identify and fit more closely and more clearly into the global supply chain.”
All GLOBALGAP committees are split 50:50 between retailer and producer representation. “The re-naming will be accompanied by a significantly improved website (www.globalgap.org), which will meet the information needs of our increasingly wider range of stakeholders,” said Moeller.
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