"As in organic dairying, we discovered similar flagrant violations of the law in the organic egg business," lamented Kastel. "Some of the largest operators even have a note from their veterinarian, or some state official, saying "we recommend that you not let your birds outside to protect their health.' And some accommodating, corporate-friendly organic certifiers have signed-off on this," Kastel said.
Cornucopia has again filed legal complaints against several poultry companies that either offer their birds no access to the outdoors or "faux" outdoor access--very small enclosed porches.
After visiting scores of egg producers in nine states, the authors of the Cornucopia report also conclude that the vast majority of family-scale producers are complying with the organic regulations and meeting consumer expectations. "This is the good news in this report," explained Kastel. "Now the USDA needs to step up and protect ethical organic farmers from unfair and illegal competition."
"An important subset of organic farmers are even going far beyond the minimum requirements in the organic standards: not just providing access to the outdoors but rotating birds on high-quality pasture," affirmed Vallaeys.
The report profiles some of these producers who have mobile chicken coops, like Alexandre Ecodairy Farms in Northern California, with 2,800 birds in three movable henhouses. Alexandre's eggs are available at Whole Foods stores in Northern California and the North Coast Co-op, in Eureka-Arcata, California.
"When consumers buy organic eggs, I think they expect that the hens were out on pasture, enjoying fresh air, running around, foraging in the pasture," said Stephanie Alexandre of Alexandre Ecodairy Farms.
"In addition to the pastured poultry producers with mobile coops, most organic family-scale producers have fixed henhouses holding 1,000-10,000 birds," stated Vallaeys, who is an expert on farm policy and animal welfare issues, with advanced degrees from Harvard and Tufts.
The best producers with permanent housing profiled in Scrambled Eggs have plenty of pasture available surrounding their chicken houses, multiple popholes (doors) of adequate size and maintain the birds by rotating them into separate paddocks, allowing a rest period for the pasture to recover.
Laying hens on pasture-based farms tend to be under less stress--based on their greater opportunity to exercise and ability to engage in instinctive foraging behaviors that cuts down on aggression toward their flock mates-- and frequently live closer to three years instead of the one year that is common on industrial-scale farms.
"Our hens are healthy, live longer, and produce better-tasting and more nutritious eggs. How can you go wrong with pasturing?" said Tim Koegel of Windy Ridge Natural Farms, an organic producer in Alfred, New York.
Organic customers are also becoming increasingly aware of a growing body of scientific literature confirming the nutritional superiority of eggs when the birds have an opportunity to eat fresh forage, seeds, worms and insects.
"Our job, and the basis of this research and report, is protecting the livelihoods of family-scale organic farmers who are being placed at a distinct competitive disadvantage by corporations that are more than willing to ignore the rules and cut corners in pursuit of profit," added the Cornucopia's Kastel.
One of these producers is Ivan Martin of Natural Acres in Millersburg, Pennsylvania, whose pastured poultry operation went out of business last year. "Consumers saw my eggs next to other so-called organic eggs bearing the exact same USDA Organic label, and probably thought they were equivalent in terms of outdoor access and nutrition. We could not compete with those [factory farm] eggs," said Martin, who hopes to re-launch his organic poultry business.
Scrambled Eggs and the organic egg brand scorecard can be viewed here.
MORE:
"The commercial size egg industry--both conventional and organic--has great concerns with birds having outdoor access," wrote The United Egg Producers in testimony before the National Organic Standards Board."
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