Family Farmers Face Unfair Competition from “Organic” Factory Farms

CORNUCOPIA, WI — An independent report has been released that focuses on widespread abuses in organic egg production, primarily by large industrial agribusinesses. The study profiles the exemplary management practices employed by many family-scale organic farmers engaged in egg production, while spotlighting abuses at so-called factory farms, some confining hundreds of thousands of chickens in industrial facilities, and representing these eggs to consumers as “organic.”

The report will be formally presented to the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the October meeting of the National Organic Standards Board in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group, developed the report, Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture, following nearly two years of research into organic egg production. The report also contains a scorecard rating various egg brands on how their eggs are produced in accordance with federal organic standards and consumer expectations. Read Full Article »

Posted in Cornucopia News

How about a tiny enclosed concrete porch, accessible by only 3%-5% of the tens of thousands of birds inside a henhouse. Does that pass as outdoor access as required by federal organic law?

Industrial-scale egg producers are gaming the system, producing “organic” eggs in huge factory farms, crowding tens of thousands of chickens in two-story buildings with small porches passing as “outdoor access.” Read Full Article »

Posted in Completed Action Alerts

The accompanying organic egg scorecard rates companies that market name-brand and private-label organic “shell” eggs based on 22 criteria that are important to organic consumers. The scorecard showcases ethical family farms, and their brands, and exposes factory farm producers and brands in grocery store coolers that threaten to take over organic livestock agriculture.

Posted in Reports

American Organic Hop Grower Association

Organic beer may never truly be organic if the USDA has its way. Earlier this month, the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) Handling Committee recommended the continued use of non-organic hops in beer labeled organic by denying a petition by the American Organic Hop Grower Association (AOHGA) to remove hops from the National List of non-organic ingredients allowed in organic food (section 205.606 of the federal organic regulations).

If approved by the full board in late October, this decision will have a devastating impact on U.S. organic hop farms. Read Full Article »

Posted in Media/News

[Cornucopia's initial review of this mixed decision leaves standing the core-complaint enabling consumers to go after Aurora and the retailers for misrepresenting their product as "organic." The court's decision that the Organic Foods Production Act has purview over organic marketing only illustrates how important it is for the USDA to carry out the intent of Congress properly. The USDA could probably be challenged in court based on this decision.

Robinson, after negotiating with principles from Aurora Dairy, overruled career civil servants at the USDA that had recommended decertifying Aurora and instead gave them a one-year probation and forcing them to downscale their largest dairy, from approximately 4400 cows to less than 800—consistent with the land base available. This was a woefully inadequate penalty for the largest scandal in the history of the organic industry by a $150 million corporation.]

Court allows false-label lawsuit against nation’s largest producer of store-brand organic milk

Yahoo Finance
By Christopher Leonard, AP Agribusiness Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dairy consumers who sued several national chains and the largest U.S. provider of store-brand organic milk claiming they falsely labeled the milk can continue with their lawsuit under a federal appeals court ruling issued Wednesday. Read Full Article »

Posted in Media/News