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New USDA Rules Establish Strong Organic Standards for Pasture and Livestock

By Lynn Buske  Posted by Will Fantle (about the submitter)       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   No comments
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February 12, 2010

Family Farmers Call Rule a Victory for Integrity of Organic Food and Agriculture

Swift and Judicious Enforcement of Abuses Now Expected by Obama Administration

WASHINGTON, DC -- After over 10 years of lobbying, family farmers across the country, who produce organic milk, are celebrating the release of strict new USDA regulations that establish distinct benchmarks requiring the grazing and pasturing of dairy cows and other livestock. Many hope that the new rule will put an end to the abuses that have flooded the organic market with suspect milk from a handful of mega-dairies generally confining thousands of animals in feed lots and barns.

"We are delighted by the new rules," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. "The organic community has been calling for strong regulations and its enforcement for much of the past decade. Cheap organic milk flowing from the illegitimate factory farms has created a surplus that is crushing ethical family farm producers."

The issue has been a lightning rod for controversy in the organic community.

At least five times during the last decade, the National Organic Standards Board a key USDA advisory panel made-up of industry stakeholders passed guidance or recommended regulatory changes clarifying the requirement that dairy cows and other ruminants must be allowed to exhibit their native behavior and consume a meaningful amount of their feed from grazing on pastures.

New rulemaking had been delayed by the Bush administration, using a myriad of tactics, some of which are being scrutinized in an ongoing investigation by the USDA's office of Inspector General.

The Cornucopia Institute, on behalf of its family farmer members, also filed numerous formal legal complaints with the USDA's National Organic Program calling for investigations into alleged violations of organic livestock management practices occurring on many of the 20 largest factory farm facilities.

The biggest scandal in the history of the organic industry centered around one such USDA investigation with the regulators finding "willful" violations of 14 organic regulations on factory farms operated by Aurora Dairy, a $100+ million company based in Colorado (Aurora produces private-label, store brand milk for Wal-Mart, Costco and large grocery chains).

"The public controversies concerning Aurora, and alleged improprieties by the largest milk processor in the country, Dean Foods (Horizon Organic), put increasing pressure on the USDA to rein-in the scofflaws in this industry," Kastel added.

"I am confident that the new rule, along with a commitment to rigorous enforcement by certifiers, will put an end to these abuses and restore fairness to the organic dairy sector," said Kevin Engelbert, a dairy farmer from Nichols, NY who milks 100 cows. "Consumers will be able to purchase organic dairy products with confidence, knowing that regardless of the label, the animals who produced the milk were on pasture, as nature intended," Engelbert added.

The USDA has announced that they will begin this month hosting a series of workshops around the country with the nation's 50+ organic certification agencies and other industry stakeholders. The sessions are intended to clearly define the meaning and intent of the new rule so that certifiers, who conduct annual farm inspections and review organic system management plans, will understand what the regulations require from farmers and only approve management practices that strictly conform to it.

Specifically, the new rules require that dairy cows and other ruminants be out on pasture for the entire growing season, but for not less than 120 days. It also requires that the animals receive at least 30% of their feed, or dry matter intake (DMI), from pasturing. In addition, organic livestock will be required to have access to the outdoors year-round with the exception of temporary confinement due to mitigating and documentable environmental or health considerations.

"These minimum benchmarks will assure consumers that industrial-scale dairies don't just create the "illusion' of grazing and continue producing illegitimate organic milk," said Kastel. He continued by emphasizing to consumers that, "Based on Cornucopia's research 90% of all namebrand dairy products are produced with high-integrity-- the handful of factory farms are bad aberrations and will now be dealt with."

The 120-day/30% DMI benchmarks were negotiated reference points agreed-upon by organic community stakeholders and arrived at after a series of meetings and discussions, nationwide, over much of the last half dozen years. The rules were also a carefully crafted consensus aimed at ensuring that legitimate organic dairy operations could truly provide meaningful pasture for their herds across the wide range of climatic zones in the U.S. It is estimated that the rule will impact upwards of 2000 organic dairy farmers.

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I work for The Cornucopia Institute. We are a non-profit that works to protect sustainable/organic food and small-scale farming. We often write press releases surrounding what is happening in the industry and what our research discovers. You can (more...)
 
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