Providing extra support

Understanding expedited services

For all new applicants, OTCO offers an option for expedited services. We understand the timing of your organic certification is critical. For example, a recently transitioned-to-organic farm might be up against an early, unexpected harvest due to weather or other reasons.

While expedited service does not guarantee delivery of certification by a specific date, we do provide the following commitments for all farm, livestock, handling and additional expedited service requests:

• Priority treatment for inspection assignment and scheduling
• Submission of a completed inspection report within two business days of an on-site audit (2-3 weeks on average)
• Review of the inspection report and applicant file within three business days of receipt of documents (30 days on average, up to 45 days during peak season)

Please note: OTCO reserves the right to refuse service for expedited requests based on administrative capacity.

Service fee

The flat fee for expedited services — $3,000 — will be charged in addition to a new applicant fee, inspection fee and certification fee. Payment for expedited services is expected at the time of a new application submission.

If applying for certification under multiple scopes of certification — e.g., as a farm and a processor — the flat expedited service fee applies to each certification scope that you wish to expedite.

Payment of the certification fee and the expedited fee must be received before our staff can begin reviewing your application and searching for an inspector. The successful and timely review of your file is largely dependent on the completeness of your application, as well as your ability to supply supporting documentation, responsiveness to change requests, and accessibility for any reviewer questions.

View our Fee Schedule