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Must Organic certification fundamentally change for an Organic World?

Soto, G.; Herrmann, G.A.; Schmidt, H.; Montenegro, L. and Zuck, L. (2014) Must Organic certification fundamentally change for an Organic World? Workshop at: 18th IFOAM Organic World Congress 2014, Istanbul, Turkey, 13-15 October 2014. [Completed]

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Summary

Organic guarantee systems have evolved drastically in the past, accompanying changes in the uptake of Organic agriculture. From an originally fully stakeholder-driven and participatory process in the '70s and '80s, organic certification has become increasingly formalized and government-controlled. organic certification is a must-have for organic market access in more and more countries in the world, but is often not seen by producers to add much value beyond that. It claims to bring transparency and trust to the consumers, but it also delegates the judgment of agricultural practices to more or less anonymous entities. Certification is not designed to prevent fraud but it is expected to control and detect it. Organic certification and regulations are supposed to be tools to develop organic markets but at the same time create barriers to organic trade. Requirements for organic certification are continuously increasing and becoming more complex, yet organic certification is not seen as more reliable than it was a decade ago. Finally, standard setters are torn between the society's expectation that organic certification cover a wider range of sustainability topics, and the fear that more onerous requirements will inhibit conversion to Organic. All these paradoxes are becoming increasingly apparent as the organic movement reflects on how to scale up Organic Agriculture from a niche to the mainstream way of farming.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Workshop
Subjects:"Organics" in general
Research affiliation: International Conferences > 2014: 18th IFOAM OWC Main Track
Deposited By: Hansen, Grethe
ID Code:28091
Deposited On:20 Jan 2015 10:57
Last Modified:20 Jan 2015 10:57
Document Language:English
Status:Unpublished
Refereed:Not peer-reviewed
Additional Publishing Information:7B Re-thinking organic certification. Fish bowl

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