ACA & EOCC COLLABORATE ON HARMONISING GROWER GROUP CERTIFICATION
by Cindy Elder & Anna Schaab, Accredited Certifiers Association
The Accredited Certifiers Association (ACA) is a group of USDA-accredited organic certifiers who work together towards consistently implementing the USDA Organic Regulations. With a membership of over 75% of the organic certifiers accredited by the USDA, as well as associate and inspector members, the ACA works together to support its members. The ACA holds monthly online trainings and meetings, offers a subscription-based online training platform with frequent content updates, holds regional on-site trainings throughout the year, forms working groups to tackle timely topics, maintains an active listserv where members can discuss problems and share their experiences, and convenes an annual training which is scheduled to coincide with the National Organic Program (NOP) annual on-site training in the United States. This annual event includes training covering a wide array of topics, as well as breakout sessions to exchange views and discuss topics of concern to certifiers.
At the annual ACA training in 2025, several organic certification agencies in attendance identified common challenges with certifying grower groups (also known as producer groups, groups of operators). This was true especially because most certification bodies are working with both the European Commission and NOP regulations. The ACA determined that this need would be best served by creating a working group of ACA members. The purpose is to guide CBs who work with both regulations to implement the regulations more consistently and also to be able to see where the differences are to ensure that CBs working with both regulations cover all the requirements. The group decided that the most pressing issue was related to risk assessment of groups and their growers. The European Organic Certifiers Council (EOCC) later agreed to collaborate with the ACA’s working group on this issue.
After the annual meeting, ACA put out a call for participation, and the Producer/Grower Group working group began meeting in April 2025, facilitated by Anna Schaab, Operational Manager Organic at Control Union Certifications B.V. (and later co-facilitated by Cindy Elder, Director of Accreditation and Inspector Services at OCIA International). The working group is made up of 22 members representing 16 organizations, who operate in all parts of the world from South America, Asia to Europe and more.
The participating certifiers were surveyed to determine the direction of the group. After polling the members of the group, it was found that one of the most noted concerns was related to determining risk of the groups and its members. Considering this issue to determine how best to address it, the working group decided to develop a document or decision tree that would aid certifiers in consistently assessing risk in the most effective way for both grower groups as a whole as well as the group members individually. The goal was also to bring together the different requirements of the NOP and EU regulations in the document, as generally grower groups request both regulations, which have some significant differences.
The group continued to meet and in late 2025 a draft document was produced. As was needed, the document looks at risk at the group and grower level and includes information about the best practices for certifiers when conducting risk assessments, recommended actions, considerations for inspections, and sample cases to illustrate implementing the two regulations together.
Meanwhile, in March 2026 a webinar was held in conjunction with the EOCC where they presented the proposed EU regulation changes to the ACA membership. As the grower group working group hoped to issue a document that encompasses the differences between NOP and EU, the ACA approached the EOCC about working together in a new way by collaborating in the working group.
The full group met for the first time in April, with Farzaneh Mahdipour (Secretary General of EOCC, CEO of IQS-Group GmbH), Antoine Faure (President of EOCC, Senior Export at Ecocert Group), and Aurélie Quintin (EOCC Representative) attending for the EOCC.
The EOCC presented the EU regulations as it relates to grower groups, contrasting the main differences with the USDA Organic Regulations. The presentation included the specific regulations that apply to grower groups, the roles of the certification body and Internal Control System, areas where EU and NOP do not align (e.g., legal personality requirements), the requirements on groups, and the various responsibilities of the Internal Control System Manager. The combined group met again in May, with the ACA presenting the main points of NOP grower group certification requirements along with changes to the USDA regulations from the previous NOP guidance and recommendations (e.g., all new members joining a group are no longer required to be externally inspected however all high-risk members must be inspected by the certifier).
The EOCC has reviewed the draft ACA document to provide comments and will determine which EOCC members will participate in further discussions. The group plans to break into smaller groups of EOCC and ACA members to work on different parts of the document. Together the smaller groups will discuss the remaining issues identified and then revise the language. The next meeting of the group is planned for late June 2026, and the EOCC/ACA members will continue working on the document for the next few months.
The attendees at the ACA annual meeting in 2025 discussed various challenges for organic certifiers and grower groups, so while it was determined that risk assessment was the most foundational topic to address, there is the potential for the ACA working group to continue to be active to tackle other topics that are of concern to USDA-accredited certifiers. Presently, the ACA will continue collaborating with the EOCC on grower group risk assessment to create a useful document for organic certification agencies.
The ACA on-line training platform can be accessed with a subscription:
https://www.accreditedcertifiers.org/academy/