USDA Backs Real Organics

We wrote earlier this month that hard-fought organic dairy standards were being threatened by a couple of large-scale producers.

Those producers, Straus Family Creamery and Aurora Organic Dairy, objected to strict requirements that would allow cattle have to access to pasture both in terms of stretching their legs at least 120 days a year and in terms of getting at least 30 percent of their nutrition from grasses.

Organic watchdog the Cornucopia Institute feared that their influence and campaign donations would sway the OMB to weaken the standards, despite the support of the vast majority of organic dairymen.

Democracy has prevailed: Late last week, the USDA announced standards that reflect organic farmers' wishes.

The standards, in practice, mean two things: You can't milk as often, and you have to have some grasslands where the cows can roam. Both eat into profits, but both result in healthier, happier animals.

The USDA often makes decisions that favor large producers, so the victory is significant — particularly given the departments's other recent decision to scrap an animal identification system that would have been disproportionately burdensome for small farmers.

But, most importantly, because pastured dairy cows — which often become hamburger meat at the end of their lives — are healthier and less prone to E. Coli, the diary standards are good news for everyone who eats.

Photo credit: Horia Varlan