How do markets encourage the adoption of sustainable agriculture?
Incentives and enabling measures encourage farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices. They include im-proving farmers’ education and technical training, imple-menting strategies for reducing the costs of inputs, en-acting organic farming legislation that protects product integrity, and providing financial incentives for adoption of sustainable practices. Market demand for sustainable products can also constitute a significant incentive. Im-proving access to such markets can provide revenue to farmers who then invest in the sustainability of their pro-duction systems, improving food security for consumers in their communities. However, increased revenues are not the only market incentive; revising the rules of the market and expanding access to markets are also power-ful incentives. In this brief, FAO presents lessons learned from experiences in 15 developing countries where de-velopments in markets have enabled farmers to transi-tion to sustainable practices. The brief provides recom-mendations on what these innovative systems need to grow and prosper.