$1,000 and What It Buys
A disclosure fee is not a certification cost. Here is what the economics look like.
The standard Hedamo disclosure fee is approximately $1,000 per product per year. This is the annual cost for a producer to maintain a structured, permanent, publicly visible disclosure within the system.
For context, third-party certification costs for a single product typically range from $3,000 to $15,000 per year, depending on the certifying body, the product category, and the market. These certifications require external audits, site visits, and renewal processes. Hedamo requires none of these. The producer declares. The system structures.
What does the fee include? A structured disclosure across all standard dimensions — identity, origin, production practices, composition, certifications held, health-relevant attributes, and gaps. An AI-generated consumer summary in text and audio. A QR code linking to the rendered disclosure. Coherence checks that surface internal inconsistencies. Multi-audience rendering — the same declaration presented differently for trade, government, and consumer readers. Annual updates and historical continuity.
The economics matter because they determine who can participate. At $1,000 per product, a smallholder cooperative can make its practices visible on the same infrastructure used by large exporters. The AI writes the consumer-facing summary — the producer does not need to hire a copywriter or a marketing agency. Heritage producers whose practices are exceptional but whose marketing budgets are zero gain the same structural visibility as multinational brands.
This is the asymmetry correction built into the economics. In traditional systems, marketing budgets determine visibility. In a disclosure system, disclosure depth determines visibility. The fee is flat. The playing field is structural.
Producers evaluate disclosure fees in relation to their own market context, buyer expectations, and pricing strategy. Hedamo does not make claims about price outcomes. It provides documentation. Any market effect is contingent on how that documentation is interpreted and used by others.
