May 2, 2019

AMS Releases 2019 User-Fee Rates for Voluntary Fruit, Vegetable and Specialty Crop Services

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has released the 2019 rates for voluntary fruits, vegetables and specialty crop services. The rates include pricing for voluntary grading, inspection, certification, verification and laboratory services for a variety of agricultural commodities. These services ensure the quality and availability of produce for consumers nationwide.

These new rates go into effect on October 1, 2019, and have been published in a Federal Register Notice.

On November 13, 2014, the USDA published a final rule in the Federal Register that established standardized formulas for calculating the fees charged by AMS user-funded programs (79 FR 67313). Since then, AMS has published the user fee rates through a unified process for setting fees across all of its voluntary user fee programs.

For more information, please contact Tracey Chow at (202) 296-019.