State Discontinues its Organic Food Certification

The NH Free State Food Network—which advocates for minimal government intervention for food producers and businesses—has been calling for NH to drop its state-run organic food certification program and allow independent certifiers since last year.

They got their wish on Feb. 27 when Shawn Jasper, commissioner of the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food, announced the department would discontinue its organic certification program. The move followed the failure of an appropriations bill that would have provided about $220,000 to the NH Department of Agriculture to hire one full-time and one part-time organic certification inspector for one year.

The state’s certification program will discontinue on June 30, according to theNortheast Organic Farming Association of NH. All state certified organic operations must apply for a new agent by April 27.

Stephen Nass, co-owner of the Independence Inn in Strafford and founder of the Free State Food Network, says NH’s organic certification program has been broken and unnecessary for a long time. Nass submitted a bill in 2024 that sought to change the language of the state’s law requiring producers of “100 percent organic” food to be enrolled in a U.S.  Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) certification program. “It’s really a moot point now,” Nass says, describing his bill.

The NH Free State Food Network, which has over 50 members, was created in response to what Nass refers to as “oppressive laws and red tape” across the country.

The Department of Agriculture, which certifies 66 operations in the state, only certifies NH organic crop producers. Organic certifications for livestock, wild crops, and processing and handling were discontinued prior to the 2022 season.

Nass says the discontinuation will open space for private certifiers. “I’m happy the plug was pulled,” he says.

James Stever, owner of Generation Farm in Concord, which produces salad greens and microgreens, was perplexed with the state’s decision. Stever will now pay around four times what he’s currently paying for his annual fee in NH to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA).

“We would have paid more and stayed with the state,” Stever says, explaining that organic farmers were provided short notice of the decision to end the program and to find a new certifier. “The commissioner chose to end the program in the most negligent way possible.”

Fourteen other states—none in New England—have their own certification programs. “The states around us are all certifying privately, and the majority of farms will now be more competitive,” Nass says.