COABC - iCertify

COABC is the Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia, made up of 9 Certifying Bodies (CB’s) across BC. iCertify is their online tool for submitting documentation supporting the certification or re-certification of an organic farm in BC.

The process to become (re-)certified organic in British Columbia is as follows:

1. Farmer contacts a COABC CB servicing their area.

2. CB administrator sends forms to farmers (or invites them to iCertify)

3. Farmer fills out the relevant forms* and sends them back via iCertify (this is known as the plan)

4. The Certification Committee (CC) at the CB reviews the submission and dispatches a Verification Officer (VO) to physically inspect the farm

5. The VO performs an on-site inspection of the farm and the paperwork supporting the plan. This inspection takes about 2 hours in most cases. In most cases, the VO will choose one crop - an audit - to do a “seed to sale analysis”:

   1. View the seed packet or invoice for that crop, ensure organic compliance

   2. View information related to planting, e.g. date and location

   3. View information on any amendments that took place on that crop, e.g. fertilizer or pesticides

   4. View information on harvest, cross-correlate with expected yield for that organic crop

   5. View information on sales of that crop, cross-correlate with expected yield

6. The VO will write up a report and share it with the CC

7. The CC will either approve the certification for that farm, or require the farmer to make certain changes to their farm before the certification is awarded. In certain extreme cases (e.g. using Monsanto seeds), the CC may reject or revoke “pull” the certification

8. Based on the severity in #7, the farmer will either submit an addendum showing the changes have been implemented (in less serious cases) or the VO will make a subsequent visit to ensure the changes have been made (in more serious cases)

This process must be repeated annually. The first year tends to be a rather large lift, with subsequent years only requiring slight modifications to the plan.

* There are more than 50 forms that can be filled out depending on the particular farm. However, many apply to only niche situations. The typical farmer will fill out 3 or 4 forms in order to become or maintain their certification. However, farms with livestock will need to fill out an additional 5 forms, mushrooms an additional 2, etc.

A decision tree to understand the necessary forms can be found here:

To see details of what is required on each form.