Starting in October the USDA will be charging increased fees for selected specialty crop grading and inspection services.
The USDA published notice of the rate changes May 22 in the Federal Register. The 2023-24 regular, overtime, holiday and laboratory services rates will be applied on Oct. 1, according to the notice.
“This year, cost-based analyses indicated the need to increase user fee rates for SCI’s grading and audit services,” the USDA said in its Federal Register notice. “While cost-saving measures have and will continue to be implemented, user fee rate increases are necessary to offset rising operational costs. In cases where current rates are sufficient to cover the costs of providing the service, user fee rates remain unchanged.”
For the fiscal year 2024 starting Oct. 1, the USDA said it will charge $242 for full lot quality and condition inspections. That is up 8% from $225 for that service for fiscal year 2023. A full list of USDA specialty crop fees is available online.
