IFOAM is turning 40, and our company, CCPB, is turning 25. We would like to share with you our story as a certification body: food safety has always been our main aim.
When our company was founded, in 1988, health threats, particularly caused by pesticides, were a big issue in Italy. We thought that organic production would be a fascinating solution to this problem, even if at that time this production process was almost unknown. There was no culture for organic, only rich and health oriented people used to buy organic products.
Through our certification service, we wanted to guarantee high production standards, and try to create a new market, making organic food affordable for a much wider range of consumers.
We welcomed European legislation in 1991 as a strong basis to go forward on this way.
Furthermore, we believed that only large agrifood companies would have been able to make a significant change in the market, so it was important to involve them in organic production.
After all these years, we can happily say that we have made it. We joined IFOAM in 1995, and we have shared the same vision ever since. Our CCPB Global Programme is the certification scheme for organic products that we set up to certify compliance with the IFOAM standards. Now we are also able to certify agrifood, textiles, and cosmetics. And we are focusing our efforts towards sustainability programs.
For the future we would like to spread the idea that technology could help organic farming in order to provide a better and sustainable production system. We would like to weigh up the balance between nature and technology!
Organic can still be improved, but for CCPB it’s the best solution available for sustainability.
from the certified organic production sector. It implements and supports projects focusing on training, information and awareness of the society on the respect of the environment and the consumption of organic food, like the annual Organic Week taking place in Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha and Extremadura. The association also communicates on the social and environmental benefits of organic farming, organizing broadcasting campaigns and promoting initiatives aimed at the youth such as workshops for young people or Summer Camps for younger children, combining recreational activities with educational ones and organic meals. CAAE supports the producers and the industrial organic sector, highlighting them as best allies to mitigate climate change effects. It also fosters biodiversity through projects like the Diversification of Agrarian Landscapes in Andalusia delivering organic plants and trees for more than 10 years in order to improve both the rural landscape and the sustainability of the farms.
At the international level, and for a few years now, CAAE is developing a cooperation project in Peru to boost the organic production with the aim to improve life conditions sustainably in less-favored communities. It also works together with Portugal with the objective to share experiences and technical knowledge with the organization of congresses on the inter-relation between preservation of the environment and organic farming.
Lots of companies registered in the CAAE Association are pioneers in sustainable initiatives linked to the use of clean energies, sustainable management of water or energy use, promotion of biodiversity, organic tourism, recycling, compost, bio-construction, etc. sharing their experiences in forums and conferences.
According to ICEA, Organic Agriculture can contribute to meaningful socio-economic and ecological sustainable development of the livelihood, both in the developed countries than in developing ones.
An example of this fruitful approach is represented by the recent membership of the Ecuadorian FECD – Fondo Ecuatoriano de Cooperación para el Desarrollo – who has joined the ICEA consortium in 2011. FECD has a long lasting experience in Ecuador promoting and implementing sustainable development related activities, with a specific focus on the livelihoods of smallholder producers adopting organic agriculture. FECD works with an innovative approach for the implementation of its projects, putting emphasis on the “human side” of the entire process, from production to certification; actually FECD is using in all its activities the “focusing” approach, a methodology derived from psychotherapy and has adapted it for the management of non-profit organizations.
