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March 4, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC:  Organic dairy farmers from throughout the country descended on the nation's capital last week in a show of solidarity requesting a USDA crackdown on large industrial dairy farms producing "organic" milk.  The farmers present, along with over 8000 submitted comments from consumers and other organic producers, prompted the USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to pass recommendations for changes in the organic regulations and a guidance draft to help organic certifiers enforce the law.  Critics contend that these large farms are ignoring the requirement that organic cows graze on grass as a major component of their diet (please see previous releases below).

New York dairyman George Wright testified that some dairy marketers are misleading consumers by using photographs of bucolic scenery and cows out on pasture to market their dairy foods.  "You never see [confined] cattle in their ads bellied up to a feed bunk getting their lunch." Dairy farmers from California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and throughout New England passionately made their case before the USDA panel.

"Grass is the be-all and end-all of the cow," said Jack Lazor, a Vermont dairy farmer and producer of Butterworks organic yogurt. "Cows have the ability to pollute the Earth or heal the Earth. If your animals are in a feed lot . . . it's not a healthy situation, and you're not making the earth a better place."

The Wisconsin-Based Cornucopia Institute joined with the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance to help organize farmer participation.  Along with the Organic Consumers Association they encouraged farmers and consumers who could not make it to Washington to send in written comments—and they sure did!  NOSB members and USDA staff were humbled by the unprecedented outpouring and concern in support of maintaining high organic integrity in terms of dairy production.

The rule changes and guidance draft approved by the NOSB were designed to eliminate loopholes that allowed a handful of corporate-owned farms, some with over 5000 cows, to market milk labeled as organic while confining their cows during the period of life when they are producing milk. Observers will now concentrate on making sure that these proposed changes go into effect and the USDA aggressively enforces them.

"Consumers feel good about paying premiums for organic milk because they are supporting family farms and a higher environmental and animal husbandry ethic,” stated Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute.  "Together the organic community, gathered in Washington, sent a clear and strong message to the investors who are building these industrial dairies: your production model is not organic and you would be prudent to heed the refrain of Maine dairy farmer, Henry Perkins who said, Let Them Eat Grass!”

February 16, 2005

Dean/Horizon Feedlot Dairy Accused of Masquerading as an Organic Farm

CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The Cornucopia Institute filed two formal complaints today with the USDA's Office of Compliance asking them to initiate investigations into alleged violations of the federal organic law by factory farms operating in Idaho and California. At issue are fundamental organic livestock management practices that require ruminants, including dairy cows, to consume a significant percentage of their feed from pasture. The complaints ask the USDA to investigate whether it is legal to confine cows in an industrial setting, without access to pasture, and still label milk and dairy products organic.

The 4000-head Idaho factory farm is owned and managed by country's largest organic dairy marketer, Dean/Horizon. The California industrial farm—owned by Case Vander Eyk, Jr. and with 10,000 cows split between its organic and conventional operation—also supplies Dean/Horizon with milk. (Last month, The Cornucopia Institute filed a similar complaint with the USDA concerning management practices at the 5700-head Aurora dairy, based in Colorado—another supplier of milk for Dean/Horizon.)

"We have been interested in these confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, for some time," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst, at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. As demand for organic milk has skyrocketed, investors have built large industrial farms mimicking what has become the standard paradigm in the conventional dairy industry. "It is our contention that you cannot milk 2000—6000 cows and offer them true access to pasture as required by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, the law that governs all domestic organic farming and food processing," said Kastel.

In filing their latest complaints with the USDA, The Cornucopia Institute relied upon a number of published interviews with the owners and management of these farms and over a dozen independent interviews with dairy experts who had visited the farms and examined farm records including; a veterinarian, consultants, suppliers and other dairy farmers. The group has also reviewed independent photographic evidence.

"According to reports, both the Idaho and California operations differ little from conventional confinement dairies other than having their high-producing cows fed certified organic feed," said Kastel. "Real organic farms have made great financial investments in converting to pasture-based production — enhancing the nutritional properties of the milk and for enhancing animal health—while it appears that these large corporate-dominated enterprises are happy just to pay lip service to required organic ethics."

"This is a matter of fairness and ethics," said James Miller, a Columbus, Wisconsin dairy farmer. "When we certified our 1475 acres and 340 cows organic we went to the expense and effort to convert our very best and most fertile fields, surrounding the barn, to pasture." Cows managed organically and pasture-based tend to have lower levels of production and also live much longer and healthier lives. "We should not be put at a competitive disadvantage by taking the high-road in organics," Miller affirmed.

Dean/Horizon's Idaho factory dairy is located in Jerome County and near the community of Paul. The arid, near-desert environment makes pasturing difficult and economically impractical for the thousands of dairy animals. As a result, the animals are confined to drylots with feed brought to them in bulk quantities. (A photo gallery of the Dean/Horizon farm can be found here.)

Craig Muchow, a diversified organic farmer from Gooding, Idaho noted that the Dean/Horizon farm has turned its back on many area farmers after initially seeking their support: "After Horizon converted their large farm to organic they solicited local hay growers and offered us a price-premium to supply them with alfalfa if we also converted to organic production. That worked well for the first few years but then they did away with most premiums and now they have abandoned many small farmers in the area altogether." According to a number of neighbors, much of the feed the Horizon farm now buys is shipped in on railroad cars and processed by one of the largest corporate agribusiness concerns in the United States.

"Even if the Dean/Horizon farm were to acquire more acreage for pasture," Kastel said, "it is likely that this land is simply not suitable for organic dairying." Asked Kastel: "Are they going to irrigate pasture for thousands of cows in an area that's been drought-stricken for the past several years? State residents are very concerned about depleting the aquifer."

The Vander Eyk factory dairy is located in California's San Joaquin Valley and near the community of Pixley. Vander Eyk's "split" operation combines as many as 7000 conventional cows with approximately 3000 organic animals. Dairy cows are reportedly trucked to pasture on the farm but The Cornucopia Institute contends that this is not a practice used for the portion of the herd that is being actively milked.

"The problem is the locating of these dairies," said Roman Stoltzfoos a Kinzers, Pennsylvania, pasture-based farmer milking 130 cows. "If anyone gave two hoots about organics they would have located their dairy where they could have grazed and kept it smaller."

The mammoth Vander Eyk farm has also been targeted for its employment practices. The owner recently reached a $360,000 labor settlement covering 125 workers who contended that were not allowed rest or meal breaks, nor paid overtime, and were not reimbursed for safety equipment they had to purchase for use in their jobs.

"I am relieved that these workers will be rightfully compensated," said Melissa Barrios staff attorney for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation who represented the workers.

Other factory-farm herd management practices, though not formally part of Cornucopia's USDA complaints, came under fire from Kastel. "Milking by these confinement operations greatly increases the stress on dairy cows," Kastel said. "Some of these factory farms are sending as many as 40% of their animals to slaughter each year because the long-term health of the animals is not enough of a concern, as the organic law intends."

Wisconsin dairyman James Miller contends that his organic management practices are what organic consumers expect and demand. "We are proud to be producing what a lot of people want," said Miller who markets his milk with the Organic Valley cooperative. "Maintaining the high integrity of organic production and the respect of our customers is just plain good business."

"Conventional agriculture is corrupted by corporations who view producing food very differently," said Pennsylvania dairyman Roman Stoltzfoos whose family ships their milk to Natural by Nature. "Now if they have their way, they will be corrupting organic agriculture too."

After The Cornucopia Institute filed its January 10th complaint with the USDA concerning management practices at the Aurora dairy, the federal agency requested that its National Organic Standards Board review pasture requirements at its upcoming March 1 meeting in Washington, DC. Farmers will be out in full force and pressuring for stricter enforcement.

More on the Horizon-Aurora Relationship

Before converting to organic production, and being purchased by Horizon, the Idaho farm, on which The Cornucopia Institute today filed a complaint with the USDA, was owned by the Aurora Dairy Group, one of the largest corporate dairy farm owners in United States, controlling thousands of cows. Their majority shareholder is Mark Peperzak. Peperzak, was also one of the founders and past chairman of Horizon prior to its purchase by Dean Foods.

Peperzak along with Mark Retzloff (also a past founder of Horizon) are two of the principles in the giant organic Aurora feedlot-dairy in Platteville, Colorado. The Cornucopia Institute filed a similar complaint with the USDA on January 10 concerning their organic herd management practices.

Dean Foods is largest milk bottler in United States with about a third of the market. They purchased Horizon, the largest bottler of organic milk, in 2003 and combined the operations with White Wave, the manufacturer of the nation's leading refrigerated soy drink, Silk. They are an impressive and dominant factor in the organic marketplace.

Milk from the two farms under investigation, along with the Aurora Dairy, are by far the largest farms producing organic milk in the country.

Commenting on the intertwined relationship of the farms, Kastel said "These are millionaires who have invested in corporate factory farms and are now attempting to cash in on the premiums offered by organic consumers. The common denominator is Dean Foods, the $11 billion corporation that now owns and controls Horizon."

February 5, 2005

CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The Cornucopia Institute, on January 10th, filed a formal complaint with the USDA's National Organic Program asking them to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of the federal organic law by a factory farm operating in Colorado. At issue is whether it is legal to confine cows in an industrial setting, without access to pasture, and still label milk and other dairy products organic. Similar factory-farm operations in Idaho and California are also under investigation by The Cornucopia Institute and will likely be targeted with formal complaints to the USDA in the near future.

"We have been interested in these concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, for some time," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst, at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, a progressive farm policy research group. As demand for organic milk has skyrocketed, investors have built large industrial farms mimicking what has become the standard paradigm in the conventional dairy industry. "It is our contention that you cannot milk 3000-6000 cows and offer them true access to pasture as required by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, the law that governs all domestic organic farming and food processing," said Kastel.

Also in January, the Chicago Tribune published an investigative report that compared the 5600-cow Aurora Dairy in Colorado to a more traditional 70-cow organic farm in central Wisconsin (subsequently the story has been reprinted in newspapers from coast to coast). One of the owners of the large Colorado farm, located near Platteville, Colorado, Mark Retzloff, has justified an exemption from the requirement for pasture based on not enough rain in the area to support it. Federal law does give the farmer the ability to remove cows from pasture for "temporary" reasons based on weather, environmental, or health considerations. However, in their complaint, The Cornucopia Institute countered that the claim that pasture is impractical, or not cost-effective, in arid Colorado is no excuse under the law.

"There are many places in the United States that are not ecologically compatible with livestock agriculture. If the Aurora dairy cannot incorporate a meaningful amount of pasture into their operation because they are located in an extremely dry, arid region, that is no excuse for them to scoff at the organic regulations," Kastel said.

"This just puts rank-and-file organic dairy producers, who are operating with integrity, at a competitive disadvantage," said Tony Azevedo, a Merced County, California, dairy farmer who was the first certified organic dairy producer in the San Joaquin Valley. "Pasture is the cornerstone of organic dairy farming. It is a great way to protect the soil create wildlife habitat, and makes an ideal filter system-protecting our waterways," added Azevedo. There is also evidence that pastured cows are healthier than cows that are routinely confined.

In addition, what cows eat affects the nutrients in their milk. The Danish Institute of Agricultural Research recently reported that organic milk-defined as produced by pastured cows-is 50% higher in vitamin E, 75% higher in omega-3 fatty acids, and 200%-300% higher in antioxidants than conventional milk. "The quality of our milk and our production practices are the very essence of why consumers are willing to pay a premium for our product," the California dairyman affirmed.

USDA Feels the Heat in Response to Organic Pasture Controversy

The USDA's National Organic Program immediately responded to sharp criticism from the organic community alleging that agency complacency was allowing large factory farms to produce organic milk while skirting the legal requirement that the cows have access to pasture as a fundamental part of their feed source. The NOP late Monday, January 10, issued an internal memorandum requesting that the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) develop a strict policy on the pasture requirement at its upcoming March meeting so that the agency can issue a guidance document enhancing enforcement.

"We are obviously pleased at the rapid response to our concern that factory dairy farms are playing loose with the organic rules. But it shouldn't take the threat of legal action or scrutiny from the news media to wake up our regulators at the USDA," said Cornucopia's Kastel. The agency has had a draft of a strong pasture policy, written by the NOSB, since 2001 but never chose to take action on it.

"It sure is an unusual juxtaposition," Kastel stated. "Every other sector of agriculture fights like hell against regulatory oversight. Here we are, the organic farming community, begging for strict regulation to protect the integrity of the organic label, and it takes political pressure and the power of the press before we get any attention."

While organic farmers and consumers await the results of any pending investigation by the USDA, all eyes will be on Washington next month for the upcoming NOSB meeting.

The Cornucopia Institute, the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Association, The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and other groups will be out in full force at the March 1 meeting. Many livestock producers from throughout the country either will be in attendance or will be sending in their comments to be presented on their behalf.

"It is very important that farmers make a strong statement at this upcoming meeting. The USDA needs to adopt a strict pasture enforcement policy right now," Kastel concluded. "Furthermore, we need to throw the gauntlet down and let the corporate agribusiness lobbyists know that if they attempt to do an end run around the organic community, by trying to water down the organic standards in Congress, that consumers and farmers will be out en masse to challenge any dirty tracks."

For more information contact The Cornucopia Institute: organic@cornucopia.org or 608-625-2042.

January 12, 2005

USDA Feels the Heat in Response to Organic Pasture Controversy

CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The USDA's National Organic Program immediately responded to sharp criticism from the organic community alleging that, through complacency, they were allowing large factory farms to produce organic milk while skirting the legal requirement that the cows have access to pasture as a fundamental part of their feed source. The NOP late Monday, January 10, issued an internal memorandum requesting that the National Organic Standards Board develop a strict policy on the pasture requirement so that the agency can issue a guidance document, enhancing enforcement.

The heat was turned up on the agency when a front-page article in the Chicago Tribune compared management practices at the 5600-cow Aurora dairy farm in Colorado and the 4000-cow Horizon farm in Idaho with a more traditional, 70-cow family-scale farm in Wisconsin that ships its milk to the Organic Valley Cooperative. Aurora, Horizon, and Organic Valley are the largest producers and marketers of organic milk in the country.

In addition, The Cornucopia Institute, a progressive farm policy research group, filed a formal complaint on January 10 with the USDA, asking them to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of the federal organic law by Aurora's industrial dairy operating in Colorado.

"We are obviously pleased at the rapid response to our concern that factory dairy farms are playing loose with the organic rules.  But it shouldn't take the threat of legal action or scrutiny from the news media to wake up our regulators at the USDA," said Mark Kastel of the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute.

A primary mission of The Cornucopia Institute, Kastel noted, is the role of "government watchdog" at the USDA's National Organic Program. Along with other advocacy groups, they have long criticized the agency's adversarial environment.

"It sure is an unusual juxtaposition," Kastel stated. "Every other sector of agriculture fights like hell against regulatory oversight. Here we are, the organic farming community, begging for strict regulation, and it takes political pressure and the power of the press before we get any attention."

"While it appears that the environment is becoming more congenial at the USDA's National Organic Program, it is unfortunate that a discernible pattern appears to be emerging," Kastel added.  In April 2004 the USDA's National Organic Program promulgated a series of "guidance documents" perceived by many in the organic farming community as loosening up the requirements for organic certification.  It wasn't until The Cornucopia Institute and many other organizations and individuals vehemently protested, leading to widespread media coverage, that the USDA withdrew the flawed documents. 

"The staff at the NOP clearly responds to heat.  But we need an agency that embraces the true spirit of organics, not the past adversarial history." Kastel said. 

While organic farmers and consumers await the results of any pending investigation by the USDA, all eyes will be on Washington this March for the next meeting of the National Organic Standards Board. "In the past, the NOSB has proposed strict pasture requirements for livestock producers," said Kastel. "These were never implemented by the agency, so we are now quite interested in seeing if the USDA now concurs and embarks on an aggressive campaign forcing farms that are now not in compliance to file new farm plans and change their management practices."

In their complaint to the USDA, The Cornucopia Institute stated their intention to file additional actions against other factory farms that appear to be profiteering at the expense of organic integrity. For more information:

January 10, 2005

The Cornucopia Institute Alleges Factory Farms Violating Federal Organic Law

CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The Cornucopia Institute, today, filed a formal complaint with the USDA's National Organic Program asking them to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of the federal organic law by a factory farm operating in Colorado. At issue is whether it is legal to confine cows in an industrial setting, without access to pasture, and still label milk and dairy products organic. Similar factory farm operations in Idaho and California are also under investigation by The Cornucopia Institute and will likely be targeted with formal complaints to the USDA in the near future.

"We have been interested in these confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, for some time," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst, at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, a progressive farm policy research group. As demand for organic milk has skyrocketed, investors have built large industrial farms mimicking what has become the standard paradigm in the conventional dairy industry. "It is our contention that you cannot milk 3000-6000 cows and offer them true access to pasture as required by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, the law that governs all domestic organic farming and food processing," said Kastel.

This week the Chicago Tribune published an investigative report that compared the 5600-cow Aurora Dairy in Colorado to a more traditional 70-cow organic farm in central Wisconsin. One of the owners of the large Colorado farm, in Platteville, Colorado, Mark Retzloff, has justified an exemption from the requirement for pasture based on not enough rain in the area to support it. Federal law does give the farmer the ability to remove cows from pasture for "temporary" reasons based on weather, environmental, or health considerations. However, in their complaint, The Cornucopia Institute countered that the claim that pasture is impractical, or not cost-effective, in arid Colorado is no excuse under the law.

"There are many places in the United States that are not ecologically compatible with livestock agriculture. If the Aurora dairy cannot incorporate a meaningful amount of pasture into their operation, because they are located in an extremely dry, arid region, that is no excuse for them to scoff at the organic regulations," Cornucopia's Kastel said.

"This just puts rank-and-file organic dairy producers, who are operating with integrity, at a competitive disadvantage," said Tony Azevedo, a Mercied County, California, dairy farmer. Azevedo, who ships his milk to the Organic Valley marketing cooperative, was the first certified organic dairy producer in the San Joaquin Valley. "Pasture is the cornerstone of organic dairy farming. It is a great way to protect the soil, create wildlife habitat, and makes an ideal filter system-protecting our waterways," added Azevedo. There is also evidence that pastured cows are healthier than cows that are routinely confined.

In addition, what cows eat affects the nutrients in their milk. The Danish Institute of Agricultural Research recently reported that organic milk-defined as produced by pastured cows-is 50% higher in vitamin E, 75% higher in omega-3 fatty acids, and 200%-300% higher in antioxidants than conventional milk. "The quality of our milk, and our production practices, is the very essence of why consumers are willing to pay a premium for our product," the California dairyman affirmed.

The Cornucopia Institute said in their communiqué that they expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state agencies, and the independent certifiers responsible for oversight and enforcement to take this formal complaint very seriously and to respond in a timely manner.

"The consumers in this country, who go out of their way to purchase organic milk believe they are supporting an environmentally sound system of agriculture, humane animal husbandry practices, and family-scale farmers. The USDA needs to deal decisively with corporations who pay lip service to the ethics of organic agriculture at the expense of family farmers and the consumers who so loyally support them," stated Kastel.

September 11, 2004

Organic: Corporate Control/Corporate Ownership Tracking the Shifting Sands of the Organic Industry

By Mark Kastel

A thought-provoking question came in from an astute observer of the natural foods industry regarding my article in the July/August Cooperative Grocer: "Reclaiming the True Meaning of Organic." She wanted to know about some of the corporate ownership stakes in familiar organic brands. Are megacorporations, including Heinz, General Foods, Dean, Campbell's, and many others, simply acting as investors, holding minority equity positions in independent corporations, or do they actually own, control, and set policy, for some of the biggest names in organic food?

Chart of organic industry ownerships. Click here for a high-rez popup or here for a downloadable pdf suitable for printing.

I will take two different examples of corporate investment in organic food and show how they are playing out.

Dean Foods, the largest milk bottler in the United States, with 29,000 employees and sales in excess of $9 billion, purchased White Wave and Horizon Organic over the past 2 1/2 years. Last month they announced that their ownership would be anything but passive. In a management shake-up and major corporate realignment, they have relocated the headquarters for Silk to Boulder, Colorado, where Horizon has always been located, and they combined these two entities, which are, in the words of company Chairman Gregg Engler, "authentic and nutritious," with other specialty foods including International Delight coffee creamers, Hershey's milk/milk shakes and Dean's dips.

Obviously, not everyone in the organic community might view nondairy coffee creamer as being authentic and nutritious-strange bedfellows indeed.

Dean has lopped off some of the upper management at Horizon and has brought in a new corporate team. The labeling on Silk or Horizon brand products will not allude to their corporate ownership and they will not talk about their 4000 cow "organic" farms or imported soybeans from Brazil. Consumers looking for true integrity and authenticity are handicapped, and buyers at cooperative groceries have the opportunity to step in and help in discerning purchasing decisions.

Another example of corporate investment in organic food marketing is the H. J. Heinz Co. of Pittsburgh. About the same size as Dean at just under $10 billion, the company is known for its flagship line of tomato products and other consumer favorites such as Kibbles n' Bits. In the case of Heinz, they've taken a wholly different tack.

First, they made a major investment in Hain, which would later acquire and merge with Celestial Seasonings to form the now gargantuan, in terms of organic market presence, Hain/Celestial. As many know, Hain/Celestial controls a multitude of major brands including Walnut Acres, Arrowhead Mills, Health Valley, and many, many others. Heinz originally purchased 20% of the stock in Hain/Celestial and then transferred the assets of a number of their product lines, including Earth's Best baby food and Ethnic Gourmet. It is not easy tracking the labyrinth of corporate investment, transfers, and control of these large publicly held corporations, but under Security and Exchange Commission law we can do a certain amount of research. Also, some corporations are more open than others. According to one of the top corporate communications officers at Heinz, Jack Kennedy, their stake in Hain/Celestial, after all the transfers and additional equity growth, stands at approximately 16%. They also have two of their officers on the Hain/Celestial board of directors.

When asked, after their substantial investments, whether they had the right to purchase additional stock or wholly take over the company, Mr. Kennedy said he was not at liberty to discuss their future plans. Obviously, corporations do not make these kinds of investments altruistically; they're looking for future growth and income potential.

As with Dean or Dannon (Stonyfield), observers can debate the level of influence the corporate managers have on day-to-day operations and whether this type of investment is good for organic consumers and farmers.

The second thrust of the Heinz involvement in organics is much more transparent. They have made major investments and are an organic leader in England and the EU, marketing tomato products, baked beans, and other familiar fare.

In the United States, they have only one organic SKU, their flagship brand and category leader, ketchup. They weighed the positive and negative of associating their name with the credibility of an organic label and decided, based on market research, that there was a strong audience for an organic version that could deliver the familiar Heinz ketchup taste.

"Are megacorporations simply acting as investors or do they actually set policy?" - Mark Kastel

According to Robin Teets, with the Heinz North American group, in the first 12 months after their product launch there was a 60% growth in the organic ketchup category and Heinz accounted for the majority of that volume. Rank-and-file organic consumers are certainly voting in favor of some corporate involvement.

However, it should be noted, that not only are they proud to use their name on organic products, not afraid of politically correct naysayers, and not concerned about devaluing their conventional offerings, they are also producing this product with a high level of integrity. Instead of choosing an organic certifier that would be more commonly associated with corporate organic players, or importing concentrated tomato products, their fresh tomatoes are grown on California farms and certified by Oregon Tilth.

The Cornucopia Institute has suggested that measuring corporate behavior, in terms of organic integrity, should be scale neutral. Operating 2000-3000 cow factory farms, scoffing at the federal law requiring pasture, or imported vegetables from China with dubious environmental pedigrees are unacceptable whether the products are generated by large international corporations or a small mom-and-pop enterprise. Corporations that truly subscribe to maintaining a high ethical standard for organics, as opposed to paying lip service and developing slick eco-friendly marketing campaigns, should be applauded and welcome as part of our community.

The Cornucopia Institute is currently doing research in order to provide co-op buyers and members with a web based tool to evaluate the practices of major players in the organic arena. We are starting with organic dairy but will also do comparisons of meat, poultry, egg and vegetable production, among other product categories. More information can be found on www.cornucopia.org.

[A version of this story appears in the September/October issue of "Cooperative Grocer."]

June 15, 2004

Study Confirms Safety of Organic Food But Agrichemical Front Group Attempts to Twist Findings

The same right-wing think tank that conspired with John Stossel of ABC News, in an erroneous attempt to discredit organic food (subsequently forcing an apology from the network), is at it again. The Hudson Institute, and its father and son team of Dennis and Alex Avery, are attempting to spin a new report that actually concluded there was no "statistically different" risk in the pathogenic contamination of organic food verses its conventionally produced counterparts.

"For years, the Averys have been banging the drum trying to suggest to consumers that organic food is somehow dangerous," said Mark Kastel, Director of the Organic Integrity Project at The Cornucopia Institute. "In this case, the study or any study is evidently enough ammunition for them to begin their indiscriminate potshots."

The report in question, published in the May issue of Journal of Food Protection, looked at produce grown on conventional and organic Minnesota farms during 2002. Less than 5 percent of the produce from conventional and organic farms showed contamination with any of the tracked pathogens in question, and that was before washing at the wholesale level, peeling off outer leaves, or a thorough washing once the produce arrives in the home of the ultimate consumer.

"This study was primarily designed to look at the use of composted manure verses chemical fertilizers at the farm level. The authors of this report intentionally did not concern themselves with what happened once the produce was washed and left the farm," Kastel said.

According to Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, the report's chief author and faculty member at the University of Minnesota, "I had a very heated discussion with Alex Avery of the Hudson Institute. They were very dissatisfied with our findings and told me that our interpretations were not 'correct.' They told me I should have known better than to look for E. coli 0157:H7, because we wouldn't find any."

Dr. Diez-Gonzalez is not surprised to learn that the Hudson Institute, with its long record and the backing of agribusiness giants like Monsanto and DuPont, is now trying to use the independently funded, University of Minnesota data to discredit organic farming.

Commenting on the Diez-Gonzalez study, Alex Avery called eating organic food "a crap shoot" and warned that potential cases of diarrhea, typhoid fever and Reiters Syndrome await its consumers. "This statement is a total fabrication and a gross distortion of the Diez-Gonzalez study", charged Kastel. "Alex Avery will say anything in his petty little war against organic food and farming."

The only criticism of the research, levied by The Cornucopia Institute, was that nearly 80 percent of the samples taken during the study came from organic farms and only 20% from conventional operations. "If conventional produce was represented as a higher percentage of the total, maybe the findings would have looked even more favorable, in terms of the compareable safety of organic products," said the Cornucopia's Kastel. The conventional sampling was also extremely light in terms of the produce items that were most susceptible to contamination (leafy greens and lettuce).

According to Dr. Diez-Gonzalez, investigators are attempting to include more conventional produce in the second and third year of their research.

"One of the positive findings from the Minnesota study is that the potential for contamination on farms certified as organic by the USDA, under the federal supervisory program which went into effect in 2002, is demonstrably lower than for farms that call themselves organic but are not certified," noted Kastel.

Federal law now mandates that any commercial organic producer must be inspected on an annual basis. "It is not surprising that the best management practices take place on certified farms where the operators are highly engaged, educated and conforming to the strict regulations in terms of the use of composted animal manure," Kastel added. "The results are higher quality and safer produce for the consumer."

May 26, 2004

USDA Secretary Veneman Pulls Organic Food Directives But Major Program Reform Still Needed

At a news conference this morning USDA Secretary Ann Veneman announced that the agency is withdrawing its recent policy directives clarifying certain organic food production standards. The move comes amidst a rising tide of criticism from organic food producers, consumers and marketers who viewed the directives as a weakening of federal standards and an attack upon the integrity of organic agriculture.

"The Secretary's announcement is great news for the organic food community," said Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute. "This is a good first step, but the National Organic Program is still in need of major overhaul, even regime change," Kastel added.

Farmers and consumer groups, who have been in conflict over the past few years, over, the implementation of rules governing organic agriculture, mobilized after the recent USDA guidance documents were published. These groups objected to provisions allowing for the use of antibiotics on dairy farms, organic pesticides that might also includes toxic inert ingredients and allowing fish, pet food and other products to be labeled organic without third-party certification.

After making the announcement, Veneman indicated that she would ask agency staff to work with the National Organic Standards Board - a group of organic food experts appointed by the Agricultural Secretary - and the organic food industry for a resolution of the concerns that had been raised.

"Secretary Veneman has a wonderful opportunity, at this point, to overhaul the staff at the organic program. The directives that she is withdrawing are just symptomatic of a poisoned and adversarial relationship between the USDA and the organic community," Kastel said. Many agricultural observers are looking at how Veneman handles this crisis, reforms staff and makes new appointments to the National Organic Standards Board. "This will be the test, in this election year, to see whether the Bush administration is going to be friendly to this segment of agriculture, organics, which has helped so many family-scale farms survive".

Organic food has been a rapidly growing bright spot in the agricultural economy, with sales expected to top $12 billion this year. "Weakening organic standards could severely damage consumer interest and confidence in the organic food label," noted Kastel. "We remain concerned that agency staff in National Organics Program seem unable or unwilling to protect us from those seeking to profit from loopholes and shortcuts in the production and quality of organic food."

Contact:
Mark Kastel 608-625-2042
Will Fantle 715-839-7731

The Cornucopia Institute is non-profit group dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. The group's Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate watchdog monitoring the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces. A briefing paper detailing the weakening of organic food standards is available upon request. Email The Cornucopia Institute at organic@cornucopia.org.

The Cornucopia Institute
P.O. Box 126
Cornucopia, Wisconsin 54827
organic@cornucopia.org
608.625.2042