(LEAF) Sustainability standards are key to driving improvements in agri-food supply chains and NGOs play a vital role in shaping, implementing, and enhancing these standards. This blog draws on recent research
The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in improving safety, quality and sustainability standards in agri-food supply chain to share practical insights for NGOs and other stakeholders working to deliver more effective and credible sustainability outcomes on the ground. The insights are informed by the authors' work at Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF), a UK-based NGO that develops and promotes sustainable farming through Integrated Farm Management and the LEAF Marque assurance system.
The reflections shared here build on recent work exploring how NGOs contribute to sustainability standards across different agricultural settings, particularly through certification, training, and multi-actor collaboration. Drawing on lessons from LEAF and similar initiatives, it highlights the diverse ways in which NGOs can translate sustainability goals into locally meaningful action.
Role of NGOs in shaping sustainability standards in the agri-food sector
NGOs play a pivotal role in improving sustainability standards, including independent voluntary standards, government-led schemes, and corporate sourcing codes. They do this through their involvement in certification schemes, farmer training, and policy advocacy. They often act as intermediaries, bridging the gap between producers, consumers, and regulators. Many support producers directly through technical assistance and capacity-building, helping to translate complex sustainability requirements into practical on-farm actions. For example, an NGO (i.e. LEAF) might help a farmer implement LEAF Marque certification, align with the EU’s Farm to Fork targets, or meet a supermarket’s private sourcing criteria. However, NGOs face several challenges, including limited resources, ensuring consistent implementation across diverse contexts, and promoting uptake among smallholders. One key takeaway from the research is that multi-stakeholder collaboration is key to overcoming these challenges. For instance, initiatives like LEAF Marque illustrate how collaboration between NGOs, farmers, and retailers can help align sustainability goals with practical realities. In these partnerships, NGOs often act as trusted intermediaries, by supporting farmers with training and tools, helping businesses ensure the practicality and credibility of standards, and advising policymakers on implementation. These interactions not only increase transparency and trust but also ensure that standards are more accessible, contextually relevant, and scalable. For instance, in the Jordans Farm Partnership, LEAF, the Wildlife Trusts, and oat farmers work together to enhance biodiversity through habitat management, supported by tailored ecological advice and LEAF Marque certification.
As highlighted in the research, NGO involvement in the development and implementation of standards, particularly through collaboration and negotiation, can help ensure that standards are more contextually appropriate and better aligned with local realities. This not only strengthens the relevance and credibility of sustainability standards, but also improves their ability to deliver lasting environmental and social outcomes across diverse agricultural systems.
Research insights for NGOs and practical recommendations
Strengthening capacity building
The research underscores how NGOs can act as critical facilitators of sustainability by translating abstract standards into actionable, locally relevant practices. One of the most effective roles NGOs can play is in capacity building, supporting farmers to understand and implement standards in meaningful ways. For instance, LEAF supports farmers through its Integrated Farm Management approach, providing tools, training, and peer-to-peer learning that foster long-term change and continuous improvement. As shown across various initiatives in the chapter, building farmer knowledge and confidence is a key driver of behavioural change and uptake of sustainability practices.
Promoting collaboration
Collaboration and partnerships are also central. The study highlights the importance of engaging NGOs more fully in sustainability governance. This includes fostering multi-level partnerships with businesses, governments, and certification bodies, and ensuring NGOs have a say in shaping standards, not just delivering them. Stronger engagement can help bridge gaps between global sustainability goals and local realities, aligning incentives and resources more effectively. NGOs are well placed to act as intermediaries by facilitating dialogue, identifying synergies, and building trust between stakeholders.
The ability to respond flexibly, while maintaining long-term goals, was identified as a defining trait of successful NGOs across the examples reviewed.
Suggestions for NGOs:
- Develop adaptable tools and training that respond to farmers’ local conditions
- Build and sustain multi-stakeholder collaborations from the early design stage
- Integrate peer-to-peer learning and farmer-led case studies to support practice change
- Ensure monitoring and verification systems remain flexible and farmer-friendly
Research insights for other key stakeholders and practical recommendations
Insights for policymakers
Our research highlights how governments can play a vital enabling role by aligning regulatory efforts with voluntary sustainability initiatives led by NGOs. Increasingly, public authorities are incorporating sustainability objectives into agricultural policy, such as through the UK’s Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), or the EU’s Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy. These policy instruments can help embed environmental and social criteria into the market, creating fertile ground for NGO interventions to scale.
Our study also shows how national and regional authorities are already collaborating with NGOs to deliver farmer training and improve monitoring systems. Strengthening these public–NGO partnerships ensures that sustainability goals are both ambitious and practically achievable. Governments can also incentivise good practice through co-financing schemes or integrating sustainability indicators into procurement and subsidy frameworks, thereby reinforcing the value of voluntary standards.
Insights for the private sector
Businesses are under growing pressure to demonstrate supply chain transparency and meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets. The research finds that companies can benefit from collaborating with NGOs to design and deliver sustainability programmes that go beyond compliance. For example, businesses often rely on NGOs to provide independent verification, local knowledge, and stakeholder trust, all of which are essential for ensuring meaningful outcomes. NGOs can also help translate global commitments into practical steps across diverse production contexts. When these partnerships are well-structured, they create shared value: businesses strengthen their sustainability credentials, while NGOs extend their impact on the ground.
Insights for farmers
Farmers face growing demands to align with multiple sustainability standards, often under resource constraints and with limited technical support. The study acknowledges the challenge of “demand fatigue” and highlights the importance of simplifying expectations and offering clear added value. NGOs can support this by tailoring capacity-building programmes to farmer needs, promoting peer learning, and streamlining audits and documentation. Farmers are more likely to engage when standards are not just top-down requirements but tools that support profitability, resilience, and long-term planning. . For example, farmers are more likely to engage with sustainability initiatives when these offer both environmental benefits and practical advantages, such as market access, risk reduction, or cost savings. By investing in practical, targeted support, NGOs and partners can ensure that alignment with sustainability standards feels manageable for farmers.
Ultimately, governments, businesses, and NGOs can strengthen the uptake and impact of sustainability standards by ensuring consistency across schemes, including public programmes, private sourcing codes, and voluntary standards, and by creating space for meaningful farmer input in standard-setting processes. Building trust, demonstrating early benefits, and offering flexible, context-sensitive tools are all essential to achieving alignment at farm level.
Suggestions for stakeholders:
- Policymakers:
- Align public schemes with credible NGO-led initiatives
- Strengthen collaboration with NGOs on training and monitoring delivery
- Embed sustainability indicators into procurement, subsidies, and environmental policies
- Use co-financing mechanisms to scale good practice
- Private sector:
- Engage NGOs early in sustainability programme design
- Co-develop practical tools and indicators rooted in local realities
- Leverage NGO credibility and networks to strengthen trust and outcomes
- Farmers:
- Participate in peer-to-peer learning and capacity-building offered by NGOs
- Choose schemes that provide practical support and reduce audit burdens
- Advocate for clearer, harmonised standards that align with operational realities
Conclusions
NGOs are essential actors in advancing sustainability across agri-food systems, from setting standards to enabling local change. As challenges evolve, collaboration between NGOs, policymakers, businesses, and farmers is vital. Stakeholders must continue building partnerships and sharing knowledge to ensure sustainability standards deliver meaningful outcomes for people, nature, and resilient food systems.
Looking ahead, there are several areas that merit further exploration. These include how different types of incentives, whether financial, technical, or reputational, influence the uptake of sustainability practices; how NGOs can shape consumer understanding and behaviour; and how collaboration with governments can be deepened to better align policies with on-the-ground realities. Research is also needed to understand how NGOs can contribute to preventing greenwashing by reinforcing the credibility and accountability of standards.