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Enter your details below to get started. Then, you'll be taken to a 10-question quiz.
Certification Options for Michigan Farmers
USDA Organic
The most widely recognized certification option relies on third party verification and is the key to higher price points in wholesale markets, but can involve costs and paperwork
Organic Plus
These add-on certifications require organic certification as a baseline, but go beyond organic requirements for soil health, animal welfare, and farmworker fairness
Certified Naturally Grown
A lower-cost, lower-paperwork alternative to organic certification for small farmers using a peer-to-peer verification process
Practice-Centered Certifications
These alternatives focus on practices that fall outside USDA organic criteria or focus on specific methodologies or approaches
MAEAP
The Michigan Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program helps farms of all sizes and all commodities voluntarily prevent agricultural pollution
FAQs
Common Questions Answered: Explore our FAQs to learn who should take this assessment, where it comes from, what we do with the information we collect, and how your score is calculated.
This quiz is for any farmer who is thinking about a certification like Organic, regenerative, or others for eco-friendly farming. Big or small, beginning or established -- this quiz is for you!
To take this assessment, we ask for your name, contact information, farm size, and whether or not you are participating in the Transition to Organic Partnership Program. We use this information to connect you with additional technical support, and to better report the assistance you are receiving to the USDA. We do not sell your information or share it with advertisers or spammers. However, we may share your information with organizations assisting sustainable farmers in your region.
This assessment tool has been developed by Michigan's Transition to Organic Partnership Program. Our goal in developing this exercise is to help Michigan farmers explore the various external certification and verification programs that might best complement their practices.
Yes! Our assessment includes one Michigan-specific program (Michigan Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program), but all other programs mentioned are available throughout the United States.
Yes! You do not have to be a mentor or mentee in TOPP to take this quiz. Please be aware that we may reach out to you afterwards to see if there is further technical assistance we can provide to you in transitioning to certified organic agriculture.
Depending on the question, this quiz will assign points to the program that best fits the answer you give. This quiz will give you an overall idea of how well a program might fit your needs and capacity, but it's not definitive -- you might score high for a program that's not a great fit for factors that are not included in this quiz.
Want to Learn More?
Visit the Michigan TOPP website for more information!
