National Organic Certification Cost Share (NOCCS) is a top item for Farm Bill Conference.   The House Bill repeals Certification Cost Share and the Senate Bill fully funds the program.

If you live or work in any of the States/Districts listed below, please call your conference member (see below) and ask them to:  

"Support the National Organic Certification Cost Share program"

See the Fact Sheet below and HERE for more information about the NOCCS   

The organic community is united in support of the organic certification cost share Program.  During the past year, certification cost share has been unavailable to organic handlers in all states and organic farmers in 34 states, because the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program (NOCCSP) has been suspended. 

The time is now for the House and Senate to restore this funding in the 2014 Farm Bill.     

Organic Certification Cost Share:

• Keeps Organic Production in the United States -- Meeting Strong US Consumer Demand for Organic with U.S. Organic Product
• Enables Farmers and Handlers to Access the Growing Organic Market and Meet Consumer Demand
• Helps Ensure Integrity and Consistency of the Organic Label
• Encourages Value-Added Processing Infrastructure for Organic Farmers; and
• Keeps a Diversity of Farms Certifying as Organic

Organic Certification Cost Share Fact Sheet

Keeps Organic Production in the United States -- Meeting Strong US Consumer Demand for Organic with U.S. Organic Product 

• Sales of organic food and beverages continue to grow at a rapid rate, growing by 9.5 percent in 2011 and exceeding 10 percent in 2012. Nationwide, sales of organic food and beverages reached $35 billion in 2012.
  
  
• Domestic production of organic products cannot keep up with growing demand for organic products.   Unless we continue to grow organic production in the United States, we will continue to rely on imported product to meet this demand. These are jobs that can and should be kept here in the U.S.

Enables Farmers and Handlers to Access the Growing Organic Market and Meet Consumer Demand

• Organic certification is an annual cost that farmers and handlers incur in order to sell their products as "certified organic." Annual certification, an extensive process of outside third-party review of all organic operations, is a necessary gateway to accessing the organic market.  

Helps Ensure Integrity and Consistency of the Organic Label

• The purpose of having national organic standards is to ensure integrity and consistency of all food and beverages labeled as organic. 

• Organic certification involves third-party verification to ensure standards are being met. Certification across all sectors of organic ensures consistency in consumer understanding of the integrity of the label, whether at the farmers' market or the grocery store.

• If organic farmers and handlers move away from the rigorous organic certification processes because of cost considerations, it will undermine consumer expectations that food marketed as organic meets strong and uniform standards.  

Encourages Value-Added Processing Infrastructure for Organic Farmers

• To meet growing consumer demand for value-added organic products, organic farmers need greater access to processing infrastructure. In many cases, the costs of organic certification for a processing facility outweigh the benefits for the small volume of organic product handled. However, the organic certification cost share program has made it possible for conventional processing facilities to get certified to handle organic product.   Without this cost share, organic value-added processing infrastructure could shrink, at the same time as consumers are demanding more product.  

Keeps a Diversity of Farms Certifying as Organic

• The costs of annual certification are high and increasing. The two federal programs providing certification cost share offer a modest, partial (75 percent) reimbursement of up to $750 annually per certification, to help defray these costs. For fiscal year 2011, about 9000 organic operations received certification cost share from the two programs.  
  
  
• This cost share is particularly helpful to small and medium sized organic operations, for which the certification costs can be prohibitive. Without this assistance, many small and medium scale operations may stop getting certified all together.
  
  
• Use of the organic label across all sectors of food and farming -- small, medium, larger farms, and fresh product as well as processed foods -- adds to the value and integrity of the entire label to meet consumer expectations. 

Status of Organic Certification Cost Share in Farm Bill

• The Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA), enacted as part of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, provides certification cost share assistance for organic farmers (but not handlers) in 16 states. The AMA program also provides risk management and conservation grants to producers in those states as well.
  
• The National Organic Certification Cost Share Program (NOCCSP), enacted as Section 10606 of the 2002 Farm Bill and reauthorized through the 2008 Farm Bill, has historically provided organic certification cost share for organic farmers in states not covered by the above-mentioned AMA program, and for organic handlers in all States.       The program has operated through State Departments of Agriculture.   The one-year Farm Bill extension legislation passed by Congress on January 1, 2013 did not provide any funding for the NOCCSP, so the program is now dormant.