The leader from The Organic Standard's June issue

'Getting there - slowly'

Written by: Gunnar Rundgren

As reported by The Organic Standard (TOS 95) the socalled ‘fraud initiative’ has developed a code of conduct for traders and another for certification bodies. This is a great step in the right direction. The code for the certification bodies includes a component on certification bodies sharing information and also regulates multiple certifications. The introduction of a Rapid Alarm System between the certification bodies must also be seen as progress.

Far too long parties have thought that regulation, supervision and accreditation are the essential components to having a credible system. The reality is that these are minor components. Real integrity in organic production rests with the farmers and other actors within the market chain. Every step away from the actual participants means less real control, less insight, and fewer direct checks, etc.

Another positive feature of the code for certification bodies is that it has a small section on fairness towards the operators. This is another great step forward. Existing organic regulations and the various norms for certification bodies (ISO 65, IFOAM Accreditation Criteria and the IROCB) do not really address this matter. They are written from the perspective of policing and not with the viewpoint of cooperation and voluntary commitment.

A lot more could still be done in terms of managing the organic quality system as something built from the bottom up rather than from the top down. Everybody with real insight knows that it is fairly easy to cheat the system; that no matter how many accreditations, no matter how onerous the regulations, there will always be opportunities for fraud. Therefore, it essential to build trust between the actors rather than mistrust. That is probably the biggest contribution of the Participatory Guarantee Systems to date. They are built on trust creation from the bottom up and controls mainly add to that trust, rather than carrying that trust. In that sense they can be seen as contributing to social capital.

Building social capital in the organic sector is a major challenge for the future. Responsibility for organic integrity should be seen as a common cause, starting with the voluntary commitment of the organic operators, it needs to be assisted by the advisors and consultants and refined through the certification mechanism. Certification, again, should be more a platform of cooperation than a policing function. Without this we will experience an endless march towards distrust, failure, fraud and more and more policing - indeed a vicious circle.

Gunnar Rundgren
Chairperson, The Organic Standard
gunnar @grolink.se