Government Support Mechanisms for Sustainable Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

Government support for enterprises can be provided in different forms, such as subsidies, tax incentives, or direct public investment. Government support can also be given to develop environmentally and socially responsible initiatives. In the agriculture sector, government support involves providing early-warning information from meteorological monitoring, policies to encourage companies and citizens to engage in sustainable behavior, and the organization of disaster relief activities. A comprehensive view of the government support mechanisms employed in the agriculture industry and their possible effects on the adoption of sustainable initiatives is yet to be provided in the literature. Through a systematic literature review of articles published from 1992 to 2023 in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, this study found that subsidies, programs, regulations, and financial assistance are the main mechanisms used by governments to support sustainable initiatives in agriculture. Moreover, our review also found that the reduction in environmental impacts, the stimulus to organic production, industry growth, and rural development are the most common goals of using government support for sustainable agriculture. We also geographically categorize research in this field by showing where research has been produced and where it should be improved. We call for more research focused on support from governments in South America. We also observed that environmental protection, the supply of organic foods, and urban agriculture are frequently impacted when there is not enough government support. At last, we propose some research questions to guide future studies. We expect that policymakers will use the outcomes of this study to guide the design and implementation of new government support mechanisms aimed at improving the sustainable performance of agriculture firms. The outcomes of this study will also help managers make investment decisions.