Organic Crop Improvement Association

OCIA certifies and verifies farm, livestock, processor/handlers, broker-traders, Community Grower Groups (CGGs), and Private Labels to various programs.

[1] With its headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, OCIA has regional and chapter offices in Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Japan, Guatemala, Peru and the U.S. OCIA was founded in 1985 (incorporated in Pennsylvania 1988) near Sherbrooke, Quebec, by a group of farmers, modeled on the "crop improvement associations" that came out of the Dust Bowl era.

[4] OCIA was suspended from operating in China in 2010 for one year by the USDA after it reportedly used employees of a Chinese government agency to inspect state-controlled farms and food processing facilities, which constituted a conflict of interest.

[5] In China, OCIA had joined forces with the Organic Food Development Corporation, an agency affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Their findings were translated into English and sent to OCIA headquarters in Nebraska, where staff members reviewed the material and made the final decisions on certification.