CERES: What is wrong?

Albrecht Benzing, CERES - CERtification of Environmental Standards - GmbH
Albrecht Benzing is Quality Manager at CERES GmbH. A studied Agronomist, he worked for many years in development co-operation in South America. Since 2000 in organic certification, since 2004 one of the managers of CERES GmbH, responsible for quality assurance. At the BIOFACH 2020 congress session "Fraud, gaps and loopholes: private and public counteractions and enforcement to complement regulations", Albrecht presented his thoughts on what leads to some of the integrity problems we have in the organic sector.

Regarding the question "what is wrong with the certifiers?", Albrecht assumes that some certifiers, being private businesses, struggle in keeping the balance between economics and integrity. Corruption, competition, the lack of competence, counterproductive remuneration schemes and other factors sometimes outweigh a certifier’s professional pride, his fear of losing reputation and accreditation and the inspector’s personal integrity. As a consequence, some inspectors turn a blind eye on problems that they encounter during inspection. Albrecht suggests that this misbalance has to be addressed by supporting certifiers and establishing stronger oversight systems that deal with the "real issues" and don't get stuck in bureaucracy. He concluded his presentation with a few suggestions on what could be done better to improve the situation.

Please have a look at the video below and feel free to flick through the powerpoint-slides from the presentation underneath.

VIDEO

POWERPOINT SLIDES

Latest news
1 Feb 2021

Corona has turned the world upside down, but organic is still growing! Due to the pandemic, BIOFACH,...

Read more
29 Jan 2021

Watch our new video and learn more about our mission and Integrity Solutions

Read more
21 Dec 2020

What a rough ride!

For New Year’s Eve we should all have one wish only: turn the wheel around and...

Read more
7 Oct 2020
15 Sep 2020

We from Organic Services would like to encourage all our partners, clients and associates to join...

Read more
8 Sep 2020

What do space travel and agriculture have in common? A great drive when it comes to innovation! We...

Read more
7 Aug 2020

The corona crisis still leads the news. As threatening as it is, it also has the potential to drive...

Read more
20 Jul 2020

COVID19 has caused a worldwide crisis that scrutinizes health, social and economic systems around...

Read more
14 Jul 2020

The corona crisis has brought many businesses to their limits but has also revealed who is and who...

Read more