Third-party certification presents numerous problems for organic farmers. Beyond the cost, there is the impossibility of ensuring true quality, with numerous cases of corruption according to witnesses, in addition to the difficulty of achieving the participation of producers and consumers in a system that does not reflect the reality of agroecological production. Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) emerge as an alternative to solve these problems, through the collective construction of a democratic certification mechanism where producers and consumers have control and ensure the quality of production. 

The Guarantee Flower System was created by the Seed Guardians Network in Ecuador in 2012 as a simple, visual and informative version that supports producers and makes visible their progress on the path of ecological and socially fair production. It deals with eight aspects of productive entrepreneurship, and actively involves the community in its management. In this session, we will present this innovative system and hear the responses of representatives and experts on other global PGS systems in a constructive discussion of different PGS alternatives.

More info is available at http://www.ga-rgs.com (in Spanish)