Through four public consultation periods, starting in May 2020 and encompassing almost 700 participants in 120 World Consultation Tour webinars conducted in 15 languages, we received over 4,000 comments on the IFA v6 documents. The third consultation round also included field trials in seven different countries to test the standard on the ground.
After successful revision by the technical committees, the final standard documents were approved by the GLOBALG.A.P. Advisory Board in October 2021.
IFA v6 was launched on 26 April 2022 and features updates including:
- Two parallel editions: Our flagship IFA v6 Smart, appropriate for the majority of producers, and IFA v6 GFS for those who require GFSI recognition
- Smarter, customized checklists
- Journey towards an outcome-oriented, impact-driven approach
- Simplified benchmarking options
- Complete audit reports generated by Audit Online Hub in a paperless, uniform design
- Enhanced integrity through uniform certificate templates available in real time in Validation Service
- Mandatory continuous improvement plans introduced at producer level
- New and updated sustainability criteria on topics such as plastics, waste, carbon neutrality, deforestation, and animal welfare
For a detailed explanation of the two editions, changes to the standard, the new terminology, and all relevant FAQs, see the documents listed in the downloads section.
NOTE: The interim final documents for IFA v6 were published on 26 April 2022, but were amended
and replaced on 7 June 2022. The amendments include minor language changes for clarification, as
well as some changes to the required compliance levels due to local legislation. Detailed changes
are recorded in the version/edition update register of each document.
The amended documents (known as the interim final amended version) form the basis for the final
version which is to be published in September.
Entering the smart era
Over the last two years, GLOBALG.A.P. has been coordinating the revision of its flagship IFA standard as well as other GLOBALG.A.P. rules, standards, and systems. During the revision process, it became clear that this included much more than just a new version of the IFA standard.
As a result, we developed our new vision – smart farm assurance solutions. This was spearheaded by the launch of IFA v6 in April 2022 and will be progressively deployed across all of our products and services.
Click here to find out more about our approach and why now is the time for our solutions to enter the smart era.