The Performance of Participatory Guarantee Systems in Brasil : Case study: 'Ecovida Agroecology' - network in Vale do Cai, Rio Grande do Sul

Globally, organic Agriculture is characterised by the increasing certified organic production in the countries of the South and East. The small structured farms that dominate the organic production in these regions are often excluded from the organic market, because of e.g. the high costs of the normally used third party certification. To improve their organic market access Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) were developed in Brazil. Thus Brazil became a pioneering country in terms of equal recognition of these two certification systems. However certification and social learning in a network has a great potential for the improvement of the principle of fairness in organic Agriculture.