This is a CTP of initiative: ProSpecieRara (Switzerland)
The CTP describes the process how PSR created its label. For Pro Specie Rara creating a label was crucial. In 2002, when their cooperation with the Coop started, the supermarket chain realized that they cannot use their old logo anymore. Coop created a new logo for the organization. "We felt so lucky that we could cooperate with them, so we accepted it. But to be honest, we did not really like it." After that Coop helped to finance the process of creating a new logo. Since 2005 PSR offers a label to the breeders and to those people who are taking care of varieties. Leaders of Pro Specie Rara wanted to provide a certificate to those who work legally and cooperate with them. This was the main idea behind the label. This is important for the network because everybody use this label. If somebody wishes to use this label, PSR has to be sure that the genetic material they work with is the one they claim it is. "You have to give us your source of seeds or seman where you get the seeds, where you get the material you start with. […] This label is little bit strange label, different from other labels. This label means that this carrot is really this special species of carrot, so this is a genetic label." Even the activists of PSR (who are taking care of one of the varieties) have to prove the origin of their seeds. In case the animals, the situation is a little bit easier. People must be a member in an association and their animals have to be registered in the herd book. "If you go to the slaughter house with your animals, you have to have the transport formula and the number of the transport formula must be in the herd book." How can you get the label? As a first step people has to prove with a signed document that they are member of their association. Of course they have to pay their fees regularly and announce their animals. Depending on the feedbacks from the associations he/she can get the label or not. PSR needs to be very strict in this question. Until recent times PSR did not have a quality system behind the label. In Switzerland, there was a platform, Label Info, which checked all the labels in the country. They wanted to know how PSR control their label and how much their system is transparent. Pro Specie Rara received the maximum points in transparency but they had no points in the field of controlling. "There is no independent control because we control ourselves; we have a really big network and nobody can control beneath us the varieties."
Coop was one of the co-creators of this CTP as they supported financially the improvement of PSR' label. The label is an important tool for their network, it signs that they share the same principles. After the Label Info criticized the lack of the independent quality system behind PSR's label, they have realized that they had to take steps and cooperate with a controlling organization. In the beginning of this year, PSR agreed with a controlling organization that they will do control for the organization. "The controlling organization only check the sources of the animals and the seeds, the delivery invoices, they will not be able to go outside to the producers. It will be an administrative checking only. We trust our people, so this checking is only for the system." It must be stressed, that this label is different from other labels. "If a controlling organisation comes and checks our labels, it is very difficult for them, because there is no label like ours."
The following events were crucial in the process of creating their label:
2002: Coop created a new logo for the organization.
2005: New logo which based on the ideas of PSR. The organization offers this label to the breeders and to those people who are taking care of varieties.
2016: Cooperation with a controlling organization to ensure the independent control system behind the PSR logo.
There was no public reactions in connection with the lack of the independent controlling, however the media dealt with this case. "There are 2-3 contracts with our sponsors, who are more sensitive and we had to tell them that our label is transparent. In the same time we could not afford to finance an independent controlling system which is by the way not able to control really the plants, it is just for checking the papers. But we will do it now just to reassure them that we have an independent controlling step in the system."
During the cooperation with the Coop, the lack of the independent quality system did not cause any problems; the interviewee could only mentioned one case: "only once there was a problem with tomatoes due to the seman."
Creating the label was an important step for the organization: "the case was that associations (which dealing with breeds) came to us and they said we have a problem; there are guys who inform us and guys who don’t; we did not want to punish the others but we would like to give a certification who worked in a good way so that was the start of the label."
By using the label PSR can highlight the work of those breeders who take care of special, Swiss breeds: " if a guy contact me and tell me that he has a special goat for example and he wants a label, I tell him that here it is a document, go to your association and they have to sign that you are a member, you pay your fees and you announce your animals. And then depending on the feedbacks from the associations, he can get the label or not. Also the farmer can get a feedback that he does his job well or not."
PSR's label means one more tool for the organization to fight for local Swiss varieties and breeds. The interviewee felt that sometimes in this fight the Swiss Government is the enemy: "do not listen only to the Government. We have a Government with a Federal Office of Agriculture, we have a bureau there which takes care of animal genetic resources, so it is a different group from the plant genetic resources team. They are very conservative. We found that special goat and the Government says that this is not a Swiss breed. It is very motivating for us that if we do not react, nobody will react. The Government do not monitor, they are not interested. The first reaction from them is that oh, it is a new invention from PSR... But finally they accepted it. There was a case when they have neglected us for 12 years. We did researches, we collected data, we talked to old breeders. So if we find a special breed, we try to prove that this is an old Swiss breed scientifically. As an organization you should make scientific papers and then you should try to put pressure on the Government."
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