Participatory Guarantee Systems in Spain: Motivations, Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement Based on Three Case Studies

Abstract

The increasing number of producers and consumers of organic products means that there is an increasing need to guarantee the organic characteristics of organic products. Certification is a tool that bridges the information deficit between demand and supply, ensuring that a product complies with the specified standards. Third-party certification (TPC) is the main tool for assessing compliance today. However, there have been criticisms about the suitability of TPC for small-scale producers and alternative certification systems have been developed, such as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS). PGS are quality assurance systems in which stakeholders are expected to be involved and assure the quality claims being made by producers. This paper presents three PGS initiatives in Spain. The research methods used in this study were semi-structured and structured interviews. Interviewees felt that their PGS initiatives fulfilled the important motivations of building a community and adding value to their products. The main challenges mentioned were the participation of stakeholders and the efficiency of internal organization. The absence of official recognition for PGS in Spain and insufficient dissemination were also perceived as challenges. Although PGS has the potential for further development in Spain, the interviewees believed that more support and official recognition were still required.

Participatory Guarantee Systems: When People Want to Take Part

“…To do this, they must be fully involved, including making decisions related to every aspect of the process. This process contains procedures that develop capacities and abilities, building collective knowledge and empowering those social groups involved [2,11,33].…”

“…What is also questionable is the belief that PGSs are more accessible than thirdparty certification for small and medium-sized producers [4,9,11]. While there is no doubt that the costs and paperwork of the entry procedure set by third-party systems exclude these producers, the ways in which PGSs frame entry procedures can also limit accessibility.…”

“…In recent years, participatory guarantee systems (PGSs) have been the subject of a growing, although still emerging, scientific output. Various articles have been published analysing them from the perspective of their operating mechanisms [1][2][3][4], their strengths and benefits [4][5][6][7][8][9], and their weaknesses and challenges [1,2,[10][11][12][13].…”

“…In most cases, PGSs are presented as necessary and interesting alternatives to thirdparty certification, proposed as a response to its limits in contexts such as small farm holdings, marginalised territories, situations of food insecurity, and difficulty of access to markets [1,9,11]. Since PGSs pre-date third-party certification, however, it is clear they did not arise as an alternative to the latter.…”

Trust and Food Quality in the Valorisation of Geographical Indication Initiatives

“…For example, alternative food networks (AFNs), such as community-supported agriculture, participatory assurance systems-understood as those social processes of certification in which the roles of consumer and producer are linked by means of trust that allows them to strengthen their business relationship in a local process of production and consumption-, Slow Food coproducer -conscious consumer who makes decisions with a view to changing the way foods are grown, produced and distributed; this consumer becomes part of the food production process [40], box schemes, direct sale, producers' stores, etc. ; they also allow creating and recreating other routes to assure agri-food quality on the basis of trust and proximity between producers and consumers [41][42][43][44].…”