One record, two copies

At each delivery, the farmer and the collector each keep a copy of the same receipt: the receipt number, the date, the farm, the collection point and the kilos. Each copy is sealed by the person who holds it. A seal is a short fingerprint of the record. If anything in the record changes, the fingerprint changes.

Receipt numbers are fixed before the harvest starts, and the list is sealed, so a receipt can’t be invented later. The co-op office keeps a daily copy of each collection book’s seals.

A published rule of evidence

Each kind of claim gets a short written rule, published before it’s used. The first rule answers one question: did this lot come from the deliveries it lists? It checks six things:

• Every receipt number is on the list fixed before the harvest, and each is used once.
• The collection book hasn’t changed since it was sealed, and its daily copies agree.
• For a random sample of farmers, their copies match the collector’s.
• The deliveries add up to the lot, allowing for drying and sorting.
• No farm delivered more than its land could plausibly grow.
• The scale read a test weight correctly at the start and end of each day.

If any check fails, the answer is Not Proven, with the reason and the evidence that would change it.

A person signs

Software helps gather and check the evidence. A named person reviews it, signs the verdict and is accountable for it.

What the method can’t do

• A seal shows a record hasn’t changed since it was sealed. It can’t show the record was right when it was made. That’s why the copies, the kilos and the scale are checked too.
• It can’t show that nobody entered a false record before sealing it. Two copies held by different people make that much harder, not impossible.
• A seal only reveals a change if a copy is held by someone else. In this method, a second party holds one.
• Without a public timestamp, a seal can’t show when a record was made.
• This first rule doesn’t cover deforestation, land rights, payments or quality.

How data is handled

Records belong to the producers and stay with them and their co-op. Qori Labs keeps only seals, counts and verdicts, never members’ personal details or what they were paid. Nothing is shared without written consent, and consent can be withdrawn.

What this research is not

• Not a certification or a label.
• Not a data platform: we don’t own or sell anyone’s records.
• Not part of UNSAAC or LAAD.
• Not finished. The method changes as the field teaches us.

Built on published work

The method builds on two of David Bentley’s papers. The Sovereign Khipu Protocol (PKS) is an open standard for records that can be checked offline, in which missing evidence means Not Proven. The Tinkuy Node Pair (PNT) describes two separate custodians jointly recording a shared event.

doi:10.5281/zenodo.18645310 and doi:10.5281/zenodo.19228636

Read the publications

The name and the mark

Qori means gold in Quechua. The mark is a Q drawn in two halves, one for each copy of a record, with a small gap between them: neither half is the whole record alone. The gold tail is the person who signs.

Who runs it

Qori Labs is run by Higher Self Forge Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no. 14045104). Research and field work are based in Cusco, Peru. Qori Labs is small: when you write, you reach David.

Qori Labs is not part of UNSAAC or LAAD. David collaborates with LAAD’s El Hilo que Persiste programme, whose field report is listed under Publications.

Principles

• Producers own their records, decide who sees them, and can take all of them with them in open formats.
• Consent is written, revisited and revocable. Nothing is shared without it.
• Methods are open by default, and code written for producers is open source. Anything restricted says why, and how to ask for it.
• No lock-in: records and their seals can be checked with free, standard tools, with or without us.
• No false safety: every claim says what it cannot prove, and missing evidence means “Not Proven”.
• Field first: claims rest on what is checked on the ground.
• A person signs: software helps check the evidence, and a named human is accountable for every verdict.

Several come from David’s published work: ongoing consent and the CARE principles from the Framework Protocol (2025), and “no false safety” and “Not Proven” from the IR and PKS standards.

How research and paid work stay apart

The first phase is free, and its findings are published. Paid work comes later, only if the research shows it’s useful, and it is agreed in writing before it starts. We don’t use a participant’s data or name without written permission.

Contact us

Cómo funciona

En cada entrega, el productor y el acopiador guardan una copia del mismo recibo: el número, la fecha, la finca y los kilos. Cada copia lleva su propio sello. Si las dos copias coinciden y los kilos cuadran, el lote queda «Probado». Si no, decimos «No probado», y por qué.

Nuestros compromisos

• Los registros son de ustedes: ustedes deciden quién los ve.
• Cada productor guarda su propia copia de cada recibo.
• Nada se comparte sin su autorización por escrito, y pueden retirarla cuando quieran.
• Para los productores no tiene costo.
• Lo que no se puede probar, lo decimos: si falta evidencia, la respuesta es «No probado».

Cómo empezaríamos

Primero conversamos con la cooperativa, en persona. Si les interesa, registramos un lote de prueba con su autorización por escrito, y ustedes reciben una copia de todo.

Quiénes somos

Qori Labs es una iniciativa de investigación de Higher Self Forge Ltd, empresa registrada en Inglaterra y Gales (n.º 14045104), con trabajo de campo en Cusco. No forma parte de la UNSAAC ni del LAAD.

Contacto

Escríbanos a research@q-ori.pe.

Run by

Higher Self Forge Ltd, which uses Qori Labs as a trading name

Registered in

England and Wales

Company number

14045104

Registered office

110 Pilling Avenue, Lytham St Annes, FY8 3QR, United Kingdom

Research and field work

Cusco, Peru

Public record

Companies House

Email

research@q-ori.pe

Qori Labs is not part of UNSAAC or LAAD.

Who we are

Higher Self Forge Ltd (company no. 14045104), trading as Qori Labs, is responsible for the personal data described here. Contact: research@q-ori.pe.

What this website collects

Nothing by itself. It sets no cookies, uses no analytics and loads nothing from other websites. The form on the Take part page writes an email in your own email app; we receive only what you choose to send.

What we do with what you send

• We reply to you, and arrange conversations you ask for. We do this because it’s in our legitimate interest to answer enquiries.
• If you take part in the research, we use what you share as your consent form describes. You can withdraw that consent at any time.

How long we keep it

Enquiries that lead nowhere are deleted after 12 months. Research records are kept as your consent form says, and deleted when you ask.

Where it’s held

On our email provider’s servers, and on David Bentley’s devices in Peru.

Producers’ records

Records made with producers belong to them. They are covered by separate written consent, in Spanish.

Your rights

You can ask to see, correct or delete your data, object to how we use it, or withdraw consent. If you’re unhappy with how we handle it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

To take part in the research, the Take part page writes the email for you.

Post

Higher Self Forge Ltd, 110 Pilling Avenue, Lytham St Annes, FY8 3QR, United Kingdom

To ask us not to contact you again, email research@q-ori.pe and we will.