Apply for Organic Certification

Certification Fees

Your total cost of certification in the first year will come from three main fees:

  1. Applicant Fee: A one-time $75.00 set up fee, paid when you apply.
  2. Annual Certification Fee: Livestock, Crops, and Wild Crop producers’ certification fees are due upon submission of completed application. This fee is based on either projected Gross Organic Sales of your NOFA-NY certified products for the coming year or Gross Organic Sales based on prior year income for existing certified operations. Handling/Processor operations pay a $300 base fee and a sales assessment fee on prior year’s gross organic sales. For more information, Fee Determination Forms can be found in the New Application Packets on our Forms & Documents page.
  3. Annual Inspection Fee: Livestock, Crops, and Wild Crop producers’ annual inspection cost is included in the annual certification fee. If additional inspections are needed, they will be billed to the producer. Handling/Processors operations’ inspection fee requires a $350 inspection deposit. After inspection takes place, you will be billed for the remaining cost. The majority of handling inspections cost approximately $600.

 Get Organic Certification Application Forms

Apply for Cost Share Program

Once certified organic, you are eligible to receive reimbursement for up to 50% of certification cost (includes additional review and materials review fees) each year up to a maximum of $500 per certification scope – crops, livestock, wild crops & handling.

Expedited Certification

NOFA-NY strives to complete the certification process on a new application within 12 weeks of receipt of a complete application. We understand that you may still require certification within a short time frame or by a certain deadline. In these cases, you may want to consider calling us at 607.724.9851 and asking about our Expedited Certification Program.   

While there are no guarantees on obtaining certification, for that is dependent upon compliance to the regulations, the completeness of your application, and the inspector’s findings, we strive to complete the certification process within a 30-day window.

Any accepted application for Expedited Certification is required to pay an added fee of $1,000 at time of application. Click here to request our expedited service.

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