Not-So-Organic Dairy Farms Lobby for Unhappy Cows

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-02-02 08:00:00 UTC
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A few months ago, I wrote about why organic doesn't mean compassionate.

Basically, it's the same old story -- Big Business (a.k.a. factory farms) has co-opted the industry, taking advantage of the loosely defined and weakly enforced regulations to flood the market, drive down prices, and run small business (a.k.a. family farms who actually care) out of town.

But, with revised rules governing whether organic dairy cows can be penned all day currently in the Obama administration's hands, the organic industry doesn't need to face more of the same.

This organics-gone-awry story has two leading villains. Aurora Dairy slipped into organic loopholes and stretched them into full-blown factory farms. They violated 14 tenets of the organic law, including confining their animals and denying them grazing. The Bush administration gave them a one-year probation tap on the hand and that was it.

Straus Family Creamery used to be a highly regarded brand, but now they've joined forces with Aurora and, together, they're advocating against stricter enforcement of organic dairy regulations, things that would make a big difference for the cows like significant pasture and grazing time.

There are good guys in this story, too. The Cornucopia Institute stands up for "family scale farming": the farmers who don't agree with confined animal feeding operations, the ones who want organic to mean something. Fortunately, those guys are the majority of the 1,800 organic dairy farmers in the U.S.

The rule in question is meant to clarify the intent of the original organic rules, to emphasize the need for meaningful pasture time. Aurora and Straus are lobbying hard to get Obama's Office of Management and Budget to change the revised restrictions on the organic label to be less, well, restricting.

Consumers who pay extra for the organic label don't do it because the packaging is pretty. People want the label to mean something -- for the environment, for the animals, for their own health -- and the explosive growth of the organic industry has proven that they're willing to pay for it. Tell the Obama Administration to accept the stronger rules for organic dairy. Even if you don't consume dairy products, this is a chance to deal a blow to factory farms and to create a model for meaningful organic labels, a contentious issue for animal and non-animal products alike.

Photo credit: KOMUnews

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
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