Farmers/Ranchers Square-off in Debate About 100% Pasture Versus Feedlots Cornucopia, WI — The new USDA organic pasture rule strengthening the requirement for grazing and pasturing livestock may not apply to beef cattle and other ruminants in meat production. In fact, the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) is seeking comments from farmers and consumers on a… Read more »
Position Paper: Organic Feedlot/Grass-based Beef
When the USDA released its “pasture rule” in February 2010, the rule included an exemption for organic ruminant “slaughter stock,” such as a beef cattle and bison, from obtaining 30% of their feed from pasture during the last 4 months of their lives. To gain a deeper understanding of current practices in the organic beef… Read more »
Wal-Mart in Trouble Again Over Organic Marketing Practices
Home Pesticide Manufacturer Misrepresenting Products as Certified “Organic” The Cornucopia Institute has filed legal complaints with the USDA alleging that Wal-Mart, and a North Carolina-based company, HOMS LLC, are violating the USDA organic standards by using conventional agricultural oils, and other ingredients, in pest control products that bear the word organic and the green “USDA… Read more »
USDA Inspector General Finds Bush Administration Ignored Organic Laws
New Management at USDA Reforms, Strengthens National Organic Program WASHINGTON, DC: After an extensive audit and investigation of alleged improprieties at the USDA’s National Organic Program, the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) made public their formal report, dated March 9, substantiating the allegations of prominent organic industry watchdog groups — that under the Bush… Read more »
Corporate Baking Giant Sara Lee Hijacks Organics
“EcoGrain” Marketing Blitz — Greenwashing New Bread Produced with Toxic Agrochemicals as Something Better Than Organic Cornucopia, Wisconsin: With the growing success of organics, and increasing consumer interest in buying foods that were grown on sustainable farms without toxic chemicals, Sara Lee Corporation has launched, with much fanfare, a marketing campaign for its EarthGrains bread,… Read more »
New USDA Rules Establish Strong Organic Standards for Pasture and Livestock
Family Farmers Call Rule a Victory for Integrity of Organic Food and Agriculture Swift and Judicious Enforcement of Abuses Now Expected by Obama Administration WASHINGTON, DC — After over 10 years of lobbying, family farmers across the country, who produce organic milk, are celebrating the release of strict new USDA regulations that establish distinct benchmarks… Read more »
Organic Family Dairies Being Crushed by Rogue Factory Farms
Farmers Appeal to OMB, President Obama for Justice WASHINGTON, DC: Family farmers from around the country, who produce organic milk, are petitioning president Obama, and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for the swift adoption of new strict rulemaking that will rein in the abuses of a handful of factory farms they… Read more »
Nonprofit David Cuts Down Agribusiness Goliaths
Dean Foods, Target Stumble—Being Forced to Correct Deceptive Practices CORNUCOPIA, WIS: An investigation by the USDA’s National Organic Program has determined that Target Corporation wrongly used the image of a certified organic product when promoting the sale of a conventional product to consumers. The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by The Cornucopia Institute…. Read more »
Giant Organic Livestock Operation Decertified by USDA
Federal Organic Enforcement Hammer Falls Hard to Protect Farmers/Consumers WASHINGTON, DC: In an investigation and legal case that dragged on for almost four years, one of the largest organic cattle producers in the United States, Promiseland Livestock, LLC, was suspended from organic commerce, along with its owner and key employees, for four years. The penalty… Read more »
Food Manufacturers and Organic Industry Lobbyists Circle the Wagons
Defend Organic Scofflaw in Court to Protect Corporate Takeover of Organics CORNUCOPIA, WI – Two powerful lobby groups in the food industry, The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Organic Trade Association, recently intervened as friends of the court in a federal consumer class-action lawsuit accusing the nation’s largest supplier of private-label organic milk of… Read more »
