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SPP, the Small Producers Symbol: what it is and what it signals

SPP is a fair trade mark owned by the producers who carry it. Small producer organisations, mostly in Latin America, run the label themselves, and the certification applies to the organisation rather than to a brand. Buyers do not get certified; they register.

Type

Certifications and standards

Run by

SPP Global (Simbolo de Pequenos Productores Global A.C.)

Since

2006

Headquarters

Mexico

Official site

https://spp.coop/?lang=en

Public list

https://spp.coop/lista-opp/

What the Small Producers Symbol is

SPP Global describes itself as "an intercontinental network of small agricultural producer organizations who own and run their own label", offering third-party verified certification "for organizations of small organic and ecological producers". The programme calls itself "an independent and accessible certification system for sustainable production, democratic organization, fair trade and self-management".

The unit certified is the organisation: cooperatives and associations "composed of small organic and ecological producers committed to the prosperity of their respective communities". That is a narrower entry condition than most agricultural marks, which certify any farm or supply chain business that meets the standard.

Who runs it and since when

The symbol was launched in March 2006, and FUNDEPPO, the foundation created to hold it, was established on 1 August 2006. The mark was created as an identifier and a home of their own for organised small producers, following the founding of the Latin American and Caribbean network of small fair trade producers in 2004. The label has had its own standards and procedures since 2010.

It is run today by Simbolo de Pequenos Productores Global A.C., based in Mexico City. Ownership sits with the producer organisations in the network rather than with an external certifier or brand coalition. Standards and pricing decisions are made by a Standards and Procedures Committee "composed of representatives from producer organizations and buyers", so the people being certified sit on the body that writes the rules.

How an organization gets it

The programme separates two routes. "Small Producers Organizations are the ones to carry out a Certification process", while "Buyers, Collective Trading Companies owned by SPO, Intermediaries and Maquila Companies are the ones to carry out the Registration process". A buyer using the seal is therefore registered, not certified, and the distinction matters when reading a claim.

A producer organisation starts by creating a user in the digital system at d-spp.org and completing the certification application online. Auditing is not done by SPP Global itself: "Certification Bodies must have the SPP Global authorization to operate the SPP System", so an authorised body carries out the verification against the published standards and procedures. The detailed requirements and procedure documents are published for download rather than held privately.

What it signals, and what it does not

An SPP certificate is a strong signal about who a supplier is. It says the entity is an organisation of small producers, not a plantation or a trading company, and that it was verified by a body authorised under a producer-owned system. For a funder screening for smallholder structure, that is the most specific thing the mark carries.

It is not a rating of an organisation and not a measure of impact. It speaks to the certified organisation and its covered production, so it tells you nothing about a member farm in particular, about management quality, or about financial health. A registered buyer is not a certified producer. And certification, like any scheme with a renewal cycle, can lapse while a seal remains on a package or a website.

How to verify a claim

Check the public list of small producer organisations that SPP Global maintains, matching the legal entity name and the country. Read what role the organisation holds: the register that matters for a producer claim is the certified producer organisation list, while buyers and intermediaries sit in the registration route instead.

Entries can be historical. An organisation that has left the system or let certification lapse may still be findable, so treat the current status rather than the presence of a name as the answer. If there is no record, ask the organisation which authorised certification body issued its certificate and for the certificate itself, and check whether the producer sells through a certified union or second-tier cooperative and is a member rather than a certificate holder. Because SPP standards are published, you can also read the requirements a claimed certificate should have met.

Size and geography

Our copy of the public list holds 96 organizations across 12 countries, pulled 2026-09-10.

• Peru 29
• Colombia 13
• Ecuador 11
• Nicaragua 11
• Bolivia 9
• Mexico 7
• Guatemala 5
• Honduras 4
• Cambodia 2
• El Salvador 2
• Paraguay 2
• Indonesia 1

Often held together

Organizations carrying SPP, the Small Producers Symbol in our data most often also hold:

• USDA Organic (24 organizations)
• Fairtrade (22 organizations)
• Rainforest Alliance (6 organizations)
• Regenerative Organic Certified (3 organizations)
• NESsT (2 organizations)
• Fair for Life (1 organizations)

In the Tokens for Good directory

None of the organizations researched so far carries this label. Submit one, or contribute research with spare Claude capacity.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. SPP Global, about the network checked 2026-09-17
2. SPP Global, certification checked 2026-09-17
3. SPP Global, our history checked 2026-09-17
4. SPP Global, home checked 2026-09-17