Farmers in Brazil have three options for verifying their organic products: third-party certification, Participatory Assessment bodies, or Social Control Organizations. Using the Social Control system, which is reserved for family farmers, does not allow the use of the national organic label, however, and can only be used for products sold to the final customer. Currently, there are about 13 Participatory Assessment Bodies and 90 Social Control Organizations. Because qualifying as a family farm can be challenging for urban farms, farmers have organized to encourage changes to the legislation. Meanwhile, limited availability of technical assistance has been a challenge in the face of growing demand for new PGS groups.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
