Claims that "organic" milk sold to Target and Wal-Mart was conventional highlight a dispute over dairy-farm practices. Minneapolis Star Tribune By Matt McKinney Ever wonder how Target Corp. could sell its organic milk for dollars less than other stores? Turns out the milk might not have been truly organic after all. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it had threatened to revoke the organic status of Aurora Organic Dairy, a Colorado farm that supplies Target and Wal-Mart, among others, with its organic milk. The government found that from late 2003 until this spring Aurora, under retailer labels such as Target's Archer Farms, essentially sold conventional milk slapped with an organic label.

Posted in Aurora Factory Farm Operations, Media/News

Watchdog: Organic Community "Taking the Law into Its Own Hands" CORNUCOPIA, WI: Announcing the filing of additional legal complaints with the USDA, and threatening civil litigation, the nation's most aggressive organic watchdog, The Cornucopia Institute, blasted the USDA for not penalizing the industry's largest organic milk producer after government regulators found that they have perpetrated consumer fraud by violating the federal organic labeling law. On August 29, the USDA announced that Colorado-based Aurora Organic Dairy had willfully violated 14 provisions of the regulations of Organic Food Production Act. Aurora operates a dairy processing facility in Colorado and five giant factory-farms in Texas and Colorado. The USDA investigation began after the agency was alerted to organic irregularities at Aurora's over two years ago.

Posted in Aurora Factory Farm Operations, Cornucopia News

On April 16, 2007, the Mark Bradley, the head of the National Organic Program, sent a letter to Marc Peperzak, the CEO of the Aurora Organic Dairy. Mr. Bradley summarized the results of the USDA's investigation into complaints filed with the Agency by The Cornucopia Institute concerning Aurora's organic farming practices:

Posted in Aurora Factory Farm Operations, Cornucopia News

We have verified that although some of the milk that Trader Joe's is buying does indeed come from a factory-farm, milking thousands of cows, that particular farm is not under Aurora's ownership. All the other brands that The Cornucopia Institute referenced (Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, Safeway, and many others) get all or some of their milk from the five industrial-scale farms that are owned by Aurora dairy. In addition to being the nation's largest producer of private-label organic milk (anonymous, private-label products and organics should possibly be considered an oxymoron) Aurora also markets milk under their own label, High Meadows.

Posted in Aurora Factory Farm Operations, Cornucopia News

USDA Requiring Aurora Organics to Reduce Dairy Herd Size and Remove Organic Label from Some Milk At 7:20 p.m. EST, August 29, the USDA issued an emergency news release announcing that they had sent a Letter of Revocation to the Aurora Organic Dairy. In lieu of revoking Aurora's organic certification, the Agency has instead entered into a consent agreement requiring the nation's largest certified organic dairy to make substantial and wide-ranging changes to the livestock management practices at their operations in Texas and Colorado. (A copy of USDA's news release is copieed in full below.)

Posted in Aurora Factory Farm Operations, Cornucopia News