The National Organic Program (NOP) develops, implements, and administers national production, handling, and labeling standards for organic agricultural products. The NOP also accredits the certifying agents (foreign and domestic) who inspect organic production and handling operations to certify that they meet USDA standards.

NOP has added a U.S. – Canada Determination of Equivalency page. New items included on this page are:

NOP has made additions to the accreditation renewal decisions on a first round of certifying agents. Follow this link for talking points and a table of the renewal status of all ACAs (PDF).

The following ACAs have been updated:

Lists of ACA certified operations have been updated. Look for the 2008 lists of certified operations on the main ACA page.

NOP has added an “ACA News Alerts” page just for accredited certifying agents to the homepage—if you are a USDA ACA, please be sure to look at this for special announcements. The link to “ACA News Alerts” can be found below the Today’s News section on the NOP homepage and on the Certifiers page under the See Also menu.

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