„Organic“ farm loses certification

The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group and organic watchdog, has announced that a 10,000 cow feedlot dairy in California has been shut down. This was the first close-down after a long-lasting battle between farmers, consumers and the USDA. Starting in 2005, Cornucopia filed a series of formal legal complaints with the USDA against large factory-farm operators, alleging that the farms were violating organic law by confining animals to sheds instead of grazing them. Government regulators stated that the dairy lost the ability to ship organic milk last month after receiving a suspension from its USDA-accredited certifier. Reasons for that were serious questions regarding the recordkeeping, such as assuring that cows are managed organically without antibiotics or hormones, are fed with organically produced feed and are allowed to graze rather than being confined in a feedlot.

Mark Kastel, Cornucopia’s farm policy analyst, stated this to be a big victory for farm families in the country, which worked so hard to create products meeting an ethical standard. Regardless of any problems with the records, he added, factory farms with thousands of animals and lacking the ability to provide them with adequate pasture should not have been certified at all. The Case Vander Eyk Jr. Dairy in California, which was shut down, had also supplied industry leader Dean Food with its milk.

Source: lancasterfarming.com