USDA Gets Tough on Giant Organic Dairy
By Samuel Fromartz
After years of complaints and aggressive advocacy by the Cornucopia Institute and organic dairy farmers, the USDA did what it should have done long ago: it got the largest private-label organic milk company in the nation, Aurora Organic, to agree to reform its farming practices. It also threatened to revoke Aurora’s organic certification if the company did not follow through on these reforms during a one-year probation period.
Cornucopia and others have lobbed criticisms at Aurora for years,
primarily for keeping its organic cows in feedlots against the letter
and spirit of organic regulations that require the animals to have
"access to pasture." Though this entire period, it should be noted, the
Colorado Department of Agriculture and Quality Assurance International
continued to certify the company’s practices as organic and Aurora
denied it was doing anything wrong.
According to the USDA complaint, however, the company did not have enough pasture for its cows and was bringing animals […]
Original post by Samuel Fromartz and software by Elliott Back
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