“PGS is a low-cost, locally-based system of quality assurance, with a strong emphasis on social control. A PGS is based on diffused technical knowledge, inclusion and collective accountability.”
Participatory Guarantee Systems, or PGS, are starting to appear around Australia. They are often associated with local, slow, sustainable and organic food groups, community gardens and farmers’ markets.
PGS is used by some farmers’ markets to certify the local origin and/or organic provenance of food, to guarantee that it is what it claims to be. PGS is always local and community owned, and therefore can avoid the high cost and much of the bureaucracy of third-party certification.
PGS is empowering because it is participatory, and hence community building.
Most jobs are shared by members, and any necessary small expenditures contribute to local employment. It can encompass producer, seller, health, environmental and consumer interests. It is designed to encourage the sharing of information between producer members — something that existing certification systems cannot do — so it can encourage the growth of organic and sustainable agriculture.
PGS is a local strategy. To work well it creates a community of people who know each other and can work together. Confidence, trust and shared knowledge arising from PGS can only encourage local development and food sovereignty.
PGS is a genuine form of certification, but it does not comply with government accreditation, so PGS produce cannot be exported. It is ideal for direct and local sellers via farmers’ markets, local shops, box delivery systems or internet sales.
PGS schemes supported by OCAA use the same organic standard and practices, but the ‘verification’ costs of major certifiers are replaced by the participation of local stakeholders.
SCPA — South East Producers is a not-for-profit incorporated association located in the south-east of NSW. Members are mainly smallholders and backyard gardeners, and SCPA runs the longest-established PGS in Australia.