industrial organics and/or not open enough to participate

Petaluma Farms, a large‐scale egg producer in Petaluma, CA, produces both organic and conventional cage‐free eggs for sale under several brand names, which include Judy’s Family Farm, Rock Island, Uncle Eddie’s Wild Hen Farm and Gold Circle. They also produce eggs for the 365 label owned by Whole Foods and Organic Valley for Western US markets.

Their organic laying hens are not granted outdoor access—their organic certifying agent has granted them a permanent exemption from granting outdoor access based on the “threat” of avian influenza. Other organic egg producers in their area do grant outdoor access for their chickens, making this an unconvincing excuse for permanent confinement.

Petaluma Farms states on its website that its organic chickens are “raised to conform to USDA organic standards”—a questionable statement since the standards require “year‐round access for all animals to the outdoors,” a requirement to which Petaluma Farms clearly does not conform.