A woman kneeling over a tray of tomatoes in a greenhouse

MOSA provides our clients with much more than just certification.

Joe Pedretti

MOSA Client Services Director

From the Director

FROM THE DIRECTOR 

     Cori Skolaski, Executive Director 

As Fall settles in, we’re receiving lots of inspection reports from our inspectors. Our goal is to complete all annual inspections by Thanksgiving. In 2025, we moved the dates up in order to receive your Annual Update sooner so we could schedule and complete inspections sooner. This was a successful move on our part and we hope that the end result will be that you receive your Certificate in a more timely manner At MOSA, we’ve begun to work on our 2026 annual update and are preparing the forms to send to you. You can expect the Annual Update to hit your inbox or mailbox in December. Your updates are due back to us by February 1, 2026, and your annual fees are due by April 1. We understand that you probably won’t have your Current Year Field Plan ready at that point, and you may not yet know your 2025 sales. The Annual Update will explain how we will collect this information from you at a later date. 

We’re also gearing up for an audit by the National Organic Program (NOP). Every 18–24 months, the NOP audits all certification agencies, and our next one is scheduled for October. As part of the process, NOP conducts “witness audits,” where they accompany inspectors during several client inspections. They also spend a week with our certification management staff, reviewing every aspect of our program. This includes verifying that inspectors are qualified for the scopes they cover and complete annual continuing education, ensuring Certification Specialists accurately interpret the National Organic Standards, checking the accuracy of our materials review program, and evaluating our policies and procedures. 

At the end, NOP holds a Closing Meeting to present their findings. A final report follows, which may include areas for improvement or even noncompliances. In response, MOSA develops a Continuous Improvement Plan explaining how we’ll address any issues. This process not only ensures compliance but also helps us strengthen our systems for the future and builds trust in the certification process. 

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at cori@mosaorganic.org or 844-637-2526.  Thank you for reading, and thanks for your continued commitment to organic integrity. 

Warmly, Cori Skolaski