Balancing Quality and Growth: Green Agricultural Product Quality Supervision in Live-Streaming Logistics

Jan 8, 2026 | Latest News

Summary
The research article Green agricultural product quality supervision based on prospect theory and evolutionary game theory for logistics enterprise live streaming examines how logistics enterprises, using live-streaming e-commerce to sell green agricultural products, navigate quality supervision. By employing evolutionary game theory coupled with prospect theory, the study models strategic decisions among logistics companies, farmers, and consumers over quality control and information asymmetry. The findings reveal nuanced impacts of regulation strength, risk attitudes, and the digitalisation of logistics on both product quality and market sustainability.

Why it Matters for EDI / Supply Chain Integration

Digital transformation and live-streaming platforms are revolutionising the agri-food sector, but ensuring quality and trust depends on robust supply chain integration.

Live-streaming e-commerce can dramatically shorten the farm-to-table distance, giving producers direct access to consumers. Platforms like TikTok in China have recorded massive volumes of agricultural sales via live streams, while logistics enterprises such as SF Express and China Post are leveraging these channels to support rural revitalisation and broaden distribution. However, this model brings unique challenges:

  • Information asymmetry: Digital channels can obscure product provenance and quality unless supply chain information is carefully managed and verifiable.
  • Traceability and quality assurance: Consumers increasingly demand green (organic, chemical-free) products. Ensuring certification, traceability, and transparent information flows becomes critical, not just for compliance but also for retaining consumer trust.
  • Diversifying logistics roles: Logistics enterprises now serve as not only delivery agents but also as nodes of quality control, direct-to-consumer marketing, and sometimes as e-commerce platforms themselves. This complexity raises coordination issues, from standards enforcement to after-sales service.
  • EDI and integration required for real-time quality data: Seamless Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) among farmers, logistics, platforms, and regulators is necessary to capture, certify, and distribute quality/control information throughout the chain—enabling rapid feedback and efficient recalls if needed.

The analysis in the article suggests that the effectiveness of quality supervision is not linear: overly strict enforcement can be counterproductive, deterring farmer participation and breaking supply chain continuity. Conversely, lax oversight may damage trust and allow lower-quality products to dominate.

For EDI and supply chain integration providers, these insights are actionable. Integration must allow not only for transactional efficiency but also for the dynamic management of quality certification, adaptable supervisory regimes, and support for consumer-facing information disclosure. Technologies such as blockchain for supply chain traceability (Yao & Zhang, 2022; Zheng et al., 2023) and real-time IoT-based quality monitoring (Yu et al., 2024) are recommended as part of the integration toolkit.

What to Do Next (Checklist)

  • 1. Conduct a digital audit of your agri-food supply chain: Map data flows, quality checkpoints, and existing integration points from farm to consumer. Identify bottlenecks in traceability, certification, and after-sales feedback.
  • 2. Design adaptive quality supervision mechanisms into EDI workflows: Allow for rule-based dynamic adjustments—e.g., tiered inspection rates—based on market signals, regulation, and consumer feedback. Avoid one-size-fits-all enforcement.
  • 3. Implement or pilot blockchain-based traceability: Use distributed ledgers to record key quality inspection events, making them available to all stakeholders (including end-consumers via QR codes, etc.).
  • 4. Integrate IoT and data reporting for live quality monitoring: Leverage connected devices for cold chain verification, residue testing, and live status updates, feeding this data through EDI interfaces to platforms and regulators.
  • 5. Empower and automate consumer information disclosure: Ensure that consumers can access independently verified quality data at point of sale. Use EDI integration to synchronise this information from source to platform.
  • 6. Coordinate incentives among supply chain actors: Work with fields, logistics, and platforms to balance rigorous quality with sustainable participation (use subsidies, shared cost models, and incentives that encourage green production without overburdening producers).
  • 7. Support standards and regulatory compliance in digital workflows: Embed evolving laws and standards for green products into EDI/supply chain management platforms. Regularly update processes to accommodate changes in national/local certification requirements.
  • 8. Facilitate feedback and rapid response: Build automated feedback and returns management into EDI systems to address after-sales issues efficiently and protect consumer trust.
  • 9. Train stakeholders on risk and behavioural factors: Provide education for farmers, logistics providers, and customer service staff around risk aversion, loss aversion, and other psychological factors affecting supply chain decisions, as outlined in prospect theory findings.

Sources