Oct 9, 2017

Vermont offers organic certification cost share program

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) is offering funding assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to organic producers and handlers of agricultural products who have received organic certification through a USDA-accredited certifying agent.

Certified organic operations may receive reimbursement of up to 75 percent of their certification costs paid during Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2017, not to exceed $750 per certification scope. There are up to four eligible certification scopes (crops, livestock, wild crops, and handling), which must be individually inspected for organic certification to be eligible for reimbursement.

Who is eligible?
Certified organic producers and handlers who have paid certification fees to become newly certified or re-certified for specific scopes under the National Organic Program (NOP) are eligible for cost-share reimbursement. Reimbursement for organic transition is not currently available. If you are an operation that is not currently certified organic, but would like to learn more about the process, or would like to learn more about the FSA organic certification reimbursement opportunity, please visit: www.fsa.usda.gov/organic

How to apply
If you are interested in applying for your organic certification reimbursement, we encourage you to apply early as reimbursements will be made on a first-come, first serve basis until all funds have been disbursed. This is a non-competitive financial assistance program to help reimburse the organic certification costs incurred on eligible scopes. Documentation may be required for reimbursement.

For more information about the program see the USDA site.
To apply for the Organic Certification Cost Share Program please download a copy of the application.

For any questions regarding applying for reimbursement through VAAFM, please contact:
Tori Managan
Agricultural Development Division, VAAFM
[email protected]
(802) 622-4094