Services offered by Certified Organic Inc.
Certified Organic Inc. is a USDA accredited agency certification agency whose goal is to offer affordable certification to our organic clients. At COI, we firmly believe that organic certification should not be cost prohibitive. We do everything possible to hire local inspectors not only to keep our customers' costs down, but also to help them to benefit their neighbors and community.
(To download a reference copy of the information presented below, please click here.)
We have based or certification fees on the customers' Gross Annual Income in order to make the fees equitable. Our fee structure is outlined as follows:
If your Gross Annual Income is:
Less than $10,000 in gross sales, the Certification Fee is: $450
$10,000-50,000 in gross sales, the Certification Fee is: $575
$50,000-100,000 in gross sales, the Certification Fee is: $775
$100,000-175,000 in gross sales, the Certification Fee is: $925
$175,000-250,000 in gross sales, the Certification Fee is: $1,025
- For customers with more than $250,000 in gross sales, please add $100 to the Certification Fee of each additional $75,000 in gross sales.
An additional $250 will be charged for each processing site beyond the original.
(Note that all fees are for certification only. Inspection Fees & additional charges are not included in the above fee schedule.)
A rate of $25 per hour (or a fraction, thereof) shall be charged to the client for any services rendered beyond the normal scope of certification. Any expenses incurred beyond the normal scope of costs of certification will be billed to the client.
Initial certification & update fees include administration, certification, USDA/NOP fees, & a certification determination letter. Inspection fees & additional charges are not included in the above fee schedule. Please contact the certification agent with any billing questions.
Inspection fees are estimated between $160-600. These fees are a combination of hourly rate, travel expenses, as well as postage & handling. Unfortunately, these cannot be fully calculated prior to the inspection actually taking place. COI works hard to find the closest qualified inspectors to you operation to minimize these costs.
Farms with on-site processing and International Certifications will need to contact COI directly to determine their individual certification fee structure.
Applications for certification are available at no charge. Simply click the link entitled Download Forms or you may call us toll free at 866-581-6428 to request that the forms be mailed to you. Please note, however, that all mailed requests will be charged a fee of $10 to cover S/H of the forms.
Certification fees are due when you submit your application. Inspection fees are due at the time of invoice. Payment is required in U.S. dollars. Untimely payment will result in an additional charge of $25 per month, which will then be added to total amount due if full payment is not received within 30 days of billing.
Initial certification and update fees include administration, certification, USDA/NOP fees, and a certification determination letter. Inspection fees are separate.
Hard copies of the National Organic Program Standard are $10.00. Please let us know if you need us to print you a copy.
Hard copies of your application (& attachments) are $10.00.
There is a $15.00 service charge for additional copies of Certificate & Residual Transaction certificates.
There is a $25 dollar per hour fee for compliance maintenance if needed after certification has been granted.
Phone time with regards to compliance maintenance after certification has been granted is 10 cents per minute.
Copyright 2010 Certified Organic Inc.