COG Pro has announced that it will end service on December 31, 2026. If your walnut, almond, citrus, or avocado operation's organic records live in that system, the exact shutdown date matters less than what happens to your history once the software goes dark. Confirm the current timeline and any final export windows directly with the vendor, since shutdown plans can shift.
This is a migration checklist, not a eulogy. The goal is simple: get every record out, in a form your certifier can still use, before you lose the ability to log in.
What the Shutdown Actually Means for Your Records
Under 7 CFR 205.103, certified operations must maintain records that fully disclose all activities and transactions, and those records must be kept for not less than five years beyond their creation (7 CFR 205.103(b)(3)). That requirement does not pause because a software vendor closes its doors. If an inspector asks for an input application from three years ago and your only copy lived inside a platform that no longer exists, "the software shut down" is not an exemption.
That makes this a five-year problem, not a one-year problem. Every application log, harvest record, and sales record that falls inside your rolling five-year window needs to come out, and needs to land somewhere you control, in a format you can still read after the account is closed.
Step 1: Inventory What You Need to Export
Before you touch an export button, list every record type you actually have stored in COG Pro. Most organic operations end up needing at least these:
- Field and crop lists. Your parcel or field inventory, acreage, and crop history by field.
- Input applications. Every fertilizer, pesticide, and soil amendment record: product, rate, date, field, and applicator.
- Harvest logs. Date, field, quantity, and lot identification for each harvest event.
- Sales and mass-balance records. What was sold, to whom, in what quantity, and how it reconciles against what was harvested.
- Organic System Plan documents. Any OSP sections, land-use history, or buffer documentation stored in the platform.
- Certificates and inspection history. Prior certificates, inspection reports, and any noncompliance correspondence.
If you are not sure whether a record type exists in your account, check every menu. Older or less-visible features sometimes hold data that does not show up on the main dashboard.
Step 2: Verify Your Date Ranges Cover Five Years
This is the step most growers skip. It is common to export "this year" or "the last 12 months" and assume that is enough. It is not. Because 7 CFR 205.103(b)(3) requires five years of retrievable records, your export needs to reach back five full years from today, not just cover the current certification cycle.
If your farm has used COG Pro for fewer than five years, export everything from day one. If you have used it longer, pull the full five-year trailing window at minimum. A gap in your export is a gap you will have to explain to an inspector later, and "the export tool only defaulted to one year" is a weak answer to give.
Step 3: Map Each Record Type to Your Next Tool
A CSV export is only useful if the next place it lands can turn rows back into records your certifier can review. Before you migrate, understand how COG Pro's structure maps onto whatever tool you choose next:
- Field → Parcel. What COG Pro calls a Field is typically what most successor systems call a parcel: a defined piece of land with its own boundary and history.
- Row / Section → a block identifier on each activity. The subdivisions you used to separate rows or sections inside a field usually become a block or sub-parcel identifier attached to individual activity records, not a separate entity on their own. If you farm in California, this is often the same block number that already appears on your Pesticide Use Report.
- Input applications → chemical or input events. Each row in your application export should become one dated, field-linked event, not a line item buried in a spreadsheet.
- Harvest logs → production or harvest events. Harvest date, quantity, and lot number should carry forward as a structured record tied to the specific field and planting.
A successor tool that just stores your CSV as an attachment has not really migrated your records, it has archived a file. The difference shows up the next time your certifier asks for input history on a specific field: a dumped spreadsheet takes explaining, a structured, dated, field-linked record does not.
Step 4: Time the Migration Before Renewal Season, Not During It
Late fall through winter is when most certifiers open their annual update windows and when USDA's cost-share application typically comes due (see our renewal-season calendar for the full sequence). That is the worst possible stretch to also be untangling a software migration. Do the export and mapping work now, during the postharvest lull, while you still have full access to COG Pro and before your attention splits across annual paperwork, inspections, and deadlines.
Waiting until your certifier's deadline is close is how growers end up trying to reconstruct three years of application history from memory the week before renewal.
Step 5: Ask Any Successor Vendor These Questions Before You Commit
Not every recordkeeping tool is built the same way, and a rushed migration can leave you worse off than a spreadsheet. Before you decide where your records go next, ask:
- Structured fields or free text? Can the tool require a rate, date, and area for every application, or does it just accept a paragraph of notes?
- Per-activity records or one running log? Can you pull up a single input application with its own date, photo, and field link, or is everything one long export?
- Can your certifier view records directly? Does the certifier get an online view of your records, or are you still emailing PDFs and spreadsheets every time they ask?
- Does it support your crew's language? If your field crew logs activities directly, does the tool work in Spanish as well as English?
- Can it import your COG Pro export directly? Or are you retyping years of history by hand?
The answers determine whether next year's renewal is easier or harder than this one.
If You Have Already Lost Access
If your account is already closed or your export window has passed, you are not entirely out of options. Contact the vendor's support line directly and ask whether a data export can still be generated on request. Check for any paper or PDF copies of applications, harvest logs, or receipts you may have kept outside the software. And contact your certifier: certifying agents keep their own file of what you submitted in past annual updates and inspection reports, which can help you reconstruct gaps even if the original software account is gone.
None of these are as clean as a full CSV export done ahead of time, which is exactly why the window to act is now, not after the shutdown date passes.
Trazo accepts COG Pro CSV exports directly. Send your field, input, and harvest exports, and the records come in as structured, dated activities tied to your parcels, not a spreadsheet buried in an attachments folder. Trazo's guided modules follow the Common OSP structure, and the Starter plan is free. Start a free account to see how your exported records look once they are organized.
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