Support New Three-Tiered Label System -- Comments due April 19th, 2010 Should organic ruminants such as a dairy cows and beef cattle -- which have evolved to eat grass -- be permitted to be kept in feedlots or should they be required by USDA organic regulations to obtain at least a portion of their feed directly from pasture? According to the USDA’s new organic pasture rule, released in February 2010, pasture grazing is required in organic dairy production, but organic beef cattle may be exempt from obtaining any of their feed from pasture during the last four months of their lives.

Posted in Completed Action Alerts

Contact the White House - Don't Let Lobbyists Weaken New Organic Dairy Standards Farmers and consumers concerned with the integrity of organic dairy farming need to contact the White House (IMMEDIATELY) and urge the President to support a strong pending standard governing organic livestock and dairy management practices. The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is nearing the end of its critical review of proposed new regulations clarifying the requirement that dairy cows and other ruminants consume a meaningful amount of feed from pasture and grazing. Powerful factory farm interests opposed to the rule – who want to continue to principally confine animals in feedlot style operations – have privately met with OMB officials and are seeking to weaken the new rule.

Posted in Completed Action Alerts

Tell the Senate committee not to threaten quality organic and local food production Our food safety system is broken. Industrialized food production gives rise to serious food safety problems, and our government's ability to regulate corporate agribusiness must be strengthened -- without harming small-scale and organic family farmers. Bills in Congress propose to give more authority to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate for food safety, inspect food processing facilities, and order mandatory recalls. The House passed its own food safety bill in July. The Senate's bill is in committee and scheduled for a mark-up (committee vote).

Posted in Completed Action Alerts

ACTION ALERT: Strengthen Animal Welfare in Organics Submit your comments to the National Organic Standards Board Due October 19, 2009 -- 11:59 P.M. Current organic standards lack strong language to address animal welfare on farms; as a result, factory farms are producing certified organic meat, eggs and milk. Some poultry operations, for example, house tens of thousands of chickens in buildings with tiny concrete porches -- so small that they often accommodate less than 1% of the building's chickens, and often accessible by one single small door in the corner of the house -- and that supposedly counts as legally required "access to the outdoors." This is just one example of how the current organic standards do not adequately address animal welfare.

Posted in Completed Action Alerts

A National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement could harm family-scale farmers—disadvantaging some of the safest local and organic growers in the nation The USDA has announced a series of hearing sessions in September and October across the country to allow members of the public—especially fresh vegetable growers and handlers—to comment on a proposed agreement that would authorize the development and implementation of production and handling regulations for a long list of fresh vegetables, primarily leafy greens. The proposed marketing agreement would allow corporate leafy green handlers to attach a USDA-backed "food safety seal" to lettuce, spinach, cabbage and other vegetables while prohibiting organic and local farmers at farmers markets, CSAs and roadside stands, and those selling directly to retailers, from using the same seal. This corporate-backed marketing ploy may lead many consumers to assume that vegetables from industrial-scale monoculture farms in, primarily, California are safer than the leafy greens at local farmers markets. As if this weren’t bad enough,the industry proponents that are pushing this initiative have not been able to show that any set of standards would actually prevent food borne illness.

Posted in Completed Action Alerts