The Western Cape Farmers PGS (WCF-PGS) was founded by Francois and Henriette Malan, Anique Van Der Vlugt and Charl Hubner.

Globally, Particapatory Guarantee Systems (PGSs) consist of groups of farmers that provide a support and verification network for organic agriculture in a specific area and is used by small farmers to establish organic credibility, traceability and verification for agricultural practices, without incurring the costs of third-party certification. The standards for forming a PGS was established by the International Federation of Organic Movements (IFOAM) and put into practice sometime around 2004 and has since grown internationally into more than …. groups of farmers and consumers working together to develop and maintain organic production standards on par with the highest internationally recognised organic agriculture requirements.

The WCF-PGS was formed at a time when organic agriculture was relatively unknown in South Africa and quite poorly understood, in an effort to both provide security and standardisation for consumers and retailers of organic produce, as well as to provide cost-free organic certification and support for farmers.

Considering that organic agriculture is still not nationally regulated in South Africa (meaning that there is no legal requirement on what a retailer can call ‘organic’), the importance of having groups like the WCF-PGS to describe and verify organic production standards is of utmost importance.

The Western-Cape Farmers PGS remains the oldest and one of the only farmer-run PGS groups in South Africa, providing a high standard of regulation and support for organic farming recognised by consumers, retailers and NGOs (eg. PGSSA and SAOSO) alike.