NCO Closure – A new era for the Organic Sector in Australia?

Shot of a male farmer and his two kids working on their dairy farm

By The ORICoop Team|Published On: 11th July, 2025|Categories: Business, Farming, Food, Organic Industry, Organic Supply Chain, Uncategorised|0 Comments|

ORICoop is saddened to hear of the sudden closure of NCO (NASAA Certified Organic), given their history, legacy and value in the organic sector over the past 20+ years. We also acknowledge the significant impact this has/is having on all NCO clients. We understand that over 400 NCO operators are impacted including some leading Australian brands into the supermarkets and strong export businesses.

We recommend keeping abreast of these changes via the DAFF website – for all organic operators certified with NCO. This includes the requirement for all NCO operators to transfer to an alternative certifier and the DAFF advice around the continued use of NCO labels until June 2026. We recommend checking this with the Department directly for all operators with products in the domestic retail and particularly for exported organic products. All accredited certifiers can provide a prompt transfer to continue your organic operation, prior to the cut off of September 26th, 2025 (or your next audit date), whichever one comes first. This is particularly important if you are exporting or supplying an organic product that may be exported.

Check out the FAQS HERE put together by the Organic Development Group for any operators with further questions. You can register for updates from DAFF HERE or check out the latest FAQS HERE regarding the NCO closure (noting the FAQS were recently revised on 3/7/25 by DAFF).

One important aspect that has been made clear by the DAFF information is which organic standard is for exported products and which relates to domestic products. We encourage operators that are selling into the domestic market to transition to the AS6000 (Australian Standard) to increase the integrity of their organic claims in the marketplace. It is important that these trusted standards can define and uphold the word ‘organic’ in the marketplace compared to non-certified or non-organic products. According to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) website – the word ‘organic’ is defined as per the AS6000 organic standard for domestic operators. If you are selling your product into the domestic market as ‘organic’ this is the best way to ensure the true claim of ‘certified organic’.

** Note that any operators exporting or supplying an organic product that is intended for export should be certified to the current National Standard that is regulated by DAFF.

The ACCC is increasing their vigilance to ensure that any claim on products in the marketplace can be validated and is true, whether organic, natural, healthier or environmentally friendly. Note this one recently about ‘Reef Friendly’ and their costly failure to pass the sniff test.

ORICoop is keen to improve the integrity of these organic, natural and healthy claims and is working with a number of organisations to increase the vigilance of these defrauded and untrue claims of products in the marketplace

ORICoop is a National Organic Producers Cooperative – connecting organic growers, improving markets for organic product and enabling strategic investment in the organic supply chain. ORICoop is happy to assist any members or operators with questions or provide more details on this information. We want to ensure that all operators are fully informed of their options and to protect their markets and to ensure a strong future for your organic enterprise. If you have any questions on this – please reach out to ORICoop at hello@organicinvestmentcooperative.com.au and we will do our best to answer or refer you to someone that can assist!

References

Organic Operators Australia Position Statement:
https://organicoperators.au/NCOposition

Affected domestic-selling growers can transfer for free to AS6000 certifier(s) immediately https://www.sxcertified.com.au/Pages/Fees/default.aspx

Freshcare Notice to Operators
https://www.freshcare.com.au/nco-closure-and-certification-transfers/

AS6000 is the voluntary domestic standard
https://www.standards.org.au/standards-catalogue/standard-details?designation=as-6000-2015

ACCC backs up the voluntary domestic standard in the case of claims
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-and-promotions/organic-claims