Certified Organic Coffee in Danger

Counter Culture Coffee

A recent ruling by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) tightens the regulations for groups of farmers seeking organic certification, thereby putting many of Counter Culture's coffee-farming partners in danger of losing their certified organic status.

The NOP mandates that every farm be inspected by a certifier in order to qualify for organic certification, but for years it has made an exception for grower groups like coffee co-operatives in order to make certification economically viable. Large numbers of farmers receive certified organic status based on a percentage (often 20%) of farms that are chosen at random and inspected by a third-party certifier. The grower group’s own internal control system is responsible for the inspection of each farm in the group, thereby ensuring the compliance of the remaining eighty percent.

Until now, that is. According to the NOP, the grower-group exception no longer applies.

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