Articipation of collaborating institutions and representatives of farmers groups. In the third and last stage, the evaluation committee verifies the documents and concerns the Combretastatin A-1 Cytoskeleton certificates, supplied the approach has been absolutely satisfactory. In case a certificate cannot be issued, the farmer could resort to a resource council, one more mandatory OPAC physique [7]. For this study, we’ve chosen as a case study the OPAC “Org icos Sul de Minas”, a second level association that certifies organic items in Minas Gerais, on the list of states from the Brazilian Federation. This OPAC was established on 27 November 2012, and it has initiated an organization to make the very first PGS in the state, as a result awakening the interest of partner institutions in supporting the initiative through extension actions. The region where the OPAC “Org icos Sul de Minas” (hereafter OPAC-OSM) was established is definitely the south and southwestern Minas Gerais area, popularly named “Sul de Minas”, and contains 146 municipalities, with an efficient population of two,929,424 people [33]. Only four of these municipalities have greater than 100,000 residents, and 33 have greater than 20,000. Higher altitudes, great soils, in addition to a mild and rainy climate characterize the geography of this a part of Brazil, where agriculture nevertheless plays an important role, having a predominance of compact family-run farms. The most prominent crops inside the area are coffee, strawberries, potatoes, and vegetables of fantastic significance for employment, earnings and foreign exchange [34]. The higher education complicated called IFSULDEMINAS -Instituto Federal do Sul de Minas (Federal Institute with the South of Minas) plus the public extension agency EMATEREmpresa de Assist cia T nica e Extens Rural (Enterprise of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension) originated as an idea throughout a project involving a initial group of organizations composed of certified organic farmers. Presently, the OPAC-OSM involves 15 first level organizations, that are the core in the social network analysis, formally registered as cooperatives and associations (Figure 1), and involves six other groups of smallholders that are not yet formally registered. Its headquarters is within the town of Inconfidentes. The certification by the OPAC-OSM is issued to individual producers or to groups of tiny smallholders, and it truly is given by way of procedures that demand the participation of other members on the association. This certification allows modest and tiny producers to enter the neighborhood, state, and Brazilian markets with their goods labelled as organic-a label which, on the other hand, doesn’t allow them to enter export markets. The OPAC-OSM is presently financed by charges paid by its members, and receives official assistance from IFSULDEMINAS, the Federal Brazilian Educational Institute, and from EMATER, the state extension agency. The OPAC-OSM doesn’t have formal and salaried workers and relies around the voluntary participation of its associate members. However, a monthly charge is charged for the purpose of maintaining the organization’s operating expenses.Sustainability 2021, 13,6 ofFigure 1. Core of organic farmers certified by OPAC-Org ico Sul de Minas. Source: own building.The farmers who are a part of the core are all organic and certified by OPAC-OSM. The majority of them are smallholders, with GNE-371 Autophagy extremely diversified production, like vegetables, fruits, coffee, processed merchandise (sweets, jellies, flours, etc.), milk and dairy goods. The principles of OPAC-OSM are primarily based on trust, participation.