IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v35y2018i2d10.1007_s10460-017-9844-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) in Mexico: a theoretic ideal or everyday practice?

Author

Listed:
  • Sonja Kaufmann

    (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna)

  • Christian R. Vogl

    (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna)

Abstract

Third-party certification (TPC), the most common organic certification system, has faced growing criticism in recent years. This has led to the development of alternative certification systems, most of which can be classed as Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS). PGS have been promoted as a more suitable, cheaper and less bureaucratic alternative to TPC for local markets and are associated with additional benefits such as empowering smallholder farmers, facilitating farmer-to-farmer learning and enhancing food security and sovereignty. PGS have spread rapidly in the past few years, but studies suggest that they are facing numerous challenges that, if not addressed, may jeopardise these benefits. Using the example of three Mexican PGS initiatives, this paper explores the main challenges faced by PGS, specifically those predominantly found in producer-run PGS initiatives. Based on producer and consumer surveys, semi-structured and informal interviews, and participant and non-participant observation, the key challenges that emerged were continuous implementation of the certification process, time constraints, personal conflicts and conflict avoidance. The paper further argues that the requirements for PGS recognition under the Mexican Law for Organic Products may also threaten the continued existence of PGS and suggests that mechanisms for managing conflicts, incentivising PGS participation and mitigating opportunity costs are key if PGS are to continue to develop.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonja Kaufmann & Christian R. Vogl, 2018. "Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) in Mexico: a theoretic ideal or everyday practice?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 457-472, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:35:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-017-9844-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-017-9844-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10460-017-9844-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-017-9844-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ostrom,Elinor, 2015. "Governing the Commons," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107569782, September.
    2. Erin Nelson & Laura Gómez Tovar & Rita Schwentesius Rindermann & Manuel Gómez Cruz, 2010. "Participatory organic certification in Mexico: an alternative approach to maintaining the integrity of the organic label," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 27(2), pages 227-237, June.
    3. Idrissou, Latifou & van Paassen, Annemarie & Aarts, Noelle & Leeuwis, Cees, 2011. "From cohesion to conflict in participatory forest management: The case of Ouémé Supérieur and N'Dali (OSN) forests in Benin," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(7), pages 525-534, September.
    4. Laurel Bellante, 2017. "Building the local food movement in Chiapas, Mexico: rationales, benefits, and limitations," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 119-134, March.
    5. Gurney, G.G. & Cinner, J.E. & Sartin, J. & Pressey, R.L. & Ban, N.C. & Marshall, N.A. & Prabuning, D., 2016. "Participation in devolved commons management: Multiscale socioeconomic factors related to individuals’ participation in community-based management of marine protected areas in Indonesia," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 212-220.
    6. Trond Vedeld, 2000. "Village politics: Heterogeneity, leadership and collective action," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(5), pages 105-134.
    7. Robert Feagan & Amanda Henderson, 2009. "Devon Acres CSA: local struggles in a global food system," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 203-217, September.
    8. Ade Kearns & Ray Forrest, 2000. "Social Cohesion and Multilevel Urban Governance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(5-6), pages 995-1017, May.
    9. Raynolds, Laura T., 2004. "The Globalization of Organic Agro-Food Networks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 725-743, May.
    10. Schulze, Holger & Albersmeier, Friederike & Spiller, Achim & Jahn, Gabriele, 2006. "Audit risk factors in certification: How can risk-oriented audits improve the quality of certification standards?," 98th Seminar, June 29-July 2, 2006, Chania, Crete, Greece 10108, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Vollan, Bjørn, 2008. "Socio-ecological explanations for crowding-out effects from economic field experiments in southern Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 560-573, November.
    12. Eve Fouilleux & Allison Loconto, 2017. "Voluntary standards, certification, and accreditation in the global organic agriculture field: a tripartite model of techno-politics," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 1-14, March.
    13. Nikolaus Beck & Peter Walgenbach, 2003. "Iso 9000 And Formalization – How Organizational Contingencies Affect Organizational Responses To Institutional Forces," Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr), LMU Munich School of Management, vol. 55(4), pages 293-320, October.
    14. Nádia Velleda Caldas & Flávio Sacco dos Anjos & Camen Lozano Cabedo, 2014. "Obstáculos hacia la implantación de un sistema participativo de garantía en Andalucía," Revista Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, Red Iberoamericana de Economía Ecológica, vol. 22, pages 53-68, July.
    15. Eleni Papaoikonomou & Matías Ginieis, 2017. "Putting the farmer’s face on food: governance and the producer–consumer relationship in local food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 53-67, March.
    16. Giovanna Sacchi & Vincenzina Caputo & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2015. "Alternative Labeling Programs and Purchasing Behavior toward Organic Foods: The Case of the Participatory Guarantee Systems in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-20, June.
    17. Ravikumar, Ashwin & Andersson, Krister & Larson, Anne M., 2013. "Decentralization and forest-related conflicts in Latin America," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 80-86.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Walid Mukahhal & Gumataw Kifle Abebe & Rachel A. Bahn, 2022. "Opportunities and Challenges for Lebanese Horticultural Producers Linked to Corporate Buyers," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Vincent Canwat & Stephen Onakuse, 2023. "Organic agriculture and agri-food system democracy: an institutional perspective from Kenya," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Mamen Cuéllar-Padilla & Isabel Haro-Pérez & Mirene Begiristain-Zubillaga, 2022. "Participatory Guarantee Systems: When People Want to Take Part," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Farreras, Verónica & Salvador, Pablo F., 2022. "Why do some Participatory Guarantee Systems emerge, become effective, and are sustained over time, while others fail? An application of the Ostrom social-ecological system framework," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    5. Nathalie Binder & Christian Reinhard Vogl, 2018. "Participatory Guarantee Systems in Peru: Two Case Studies in Lima and Apurímac and the Role of Capacity Building in the Food Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Lemeilleur, S. & Allaire, G., 2019. "Participatory Guarantee Systems for organic farming: reclaiming the commons," Working Papers MoISA 201902, UMR MoISA : Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (social and nutritional sciences): CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRAE, L'Institut Agro, Montpellier SupAgro, IRD - Montpellier, France.
    7. Pisanee Phromthep & Buraskorn Torut, 2024. "Comparing the Collaboration of Smallholder Farmers through Participatory Guarantee System Practices in Northeastern Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-14, May.
    8. Sonja Kaufmann & Nikolaus Hruschka & Luis Vildozo & Christian R. Vogl, 2023. "Alternative Food Networks in Latin America—exploring PGS (Participatory Guarantee Systems) markets and their consumers: a cross-country comparison," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 193-216, March.
    9. Sonja Kaufmann & Nikolaus Hruschka & Christian R. Vogl, 2020. "Bridging the Literature Gap: A Framework for Assessing Actor Participation in Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-26, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sonja Kaufmann & Nikolaus Hruschka & Christian R. Vogl, 2020. "Bridging the Literature Gap: A Framework for Assessing Actor Participation in Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-26, October.
    2. Farreras, Verónica & Salvador, Pablo F., 2022. "Why do some Participatory Guarantee Systems emerge, become effective, and are sustained over time, while others fail? An application of the Ostrom social-ecological system framework," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Mirka Erler & Christoph Dittrich, 2020. "Middle Class, Tradition and the Desi-Realm—Discourses of Alternative Food Networks in Bengaluru, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Sonja Kaufmann & Nikolaus Hruschka & Luis Vildozo & Christian R. Vogl, 2023. "Alternative Food Networks in Latin America—exploring PGS (Participatory Guarantee Systems) markets and their consumers: a cross-country comparison," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 193-216, March.
    5. Mamen Cuéllar-Padilla & Isabel Haro-Pérez & Mirene Begiristain-Zubillaga, 2022. "Participatory Guarantee Systems: When People Want to Take Part," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    6. Nathalie Binder & Christian Reinhard Vogl, 2018. "Participatory Guarantee Systems in Peru: Two Case Studies in Lima and Apurímac and the Role of Capacity Building in the Food Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Lemeilleur, Sylvaine & Allaire, Gilles, 2019. "Participatory Guarantee Systems for organic farming: reclaiming the commons," Working Papers MOISA 292325, Institut National de la recherché Agronomique (INRA), UMR MOISA : Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs : CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, Montpellier, France.
    8. Enthoven, Laura & Van den Broeck, Goedele, 2023. "How to boost the local trade of participatory guarantee system (PGS)-certified produce? A value chain perspective in Huánuco, Peru," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    9. Zhenzhong Si & Theresa Schumilas & Steffanie Scott, 2015. "Characterizing alternative food networks in China," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(2), pages 299-313, June.
    10. Irwa Issa & Ulrich Hamm, 2017. "Adoption of Organic Farming as an Opportunity for Syrian Farmers of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Structural Equation Modelling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-22, November.
    11. Chang, Kimberlee & Andersson, Krister P., 2021. "Contextual factors that enable forest users to engage in tree-planting for forest restoration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    12. Röttgers, Dirk, 2016. "Conditional cooperation, context and why strong rules work — A Namibian common-pool resource experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 21-31.
    13. Solfanelli, Francesco & Ozturk, Emel & Pugliese, Patrizia & Zanoli, Raffaele, 2021. "Potential outcomes and impacts of organic group certification in Italy: An evaluative case study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Xu, Tuoyuan & Zhang, Xiaoxiao & Agrawal, Arun & Liu, Jinlong, 2020. "Decentralizing while centralizing: An explanation of China's collective forestry reform since the 1980s," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    15. Xinyu Yang & Weidong Liu, 2022. "Agricultural Production Networks and Upgrading from a Global–Local Perspective: A Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, October.
    16. Starobin, Shana M., 2021. "Credibility beyond compliance: Uncertified smallholders in sustainable food systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    17. Bogliacino, Francesco & Mantilla, César & Niño, Daniel, 2023. "Economic incentives and political inequality in the management of environmental public goods," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    18. Giovanni Dara Guccione & Elena Pagliarino & Ilaria Borri & Alessandra Vaccaro & Patrizia Borsotto, 2021. "A Participatory Analysis of the Control and Certification System in the Italian Organic Rice Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    19. Biancamaria Torquati & Sergio Pedini & Fabio Maria Santucci & Riccardo Da Re, 2021. "Participatory Guarantee System and Social Capital for Sustainable Development in Brazil: The Case Study of OPAC Orgânicos Sul de Minas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-18, October.
    20. Shaun Larcom & Terry Gevelt, 2019. "Do Voluntary Commons Associations Deliver Sustainable Grazing Outcomes? An Empirical Study of England," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 51-74, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:35:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-017-9844-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.