More
than a dozen factory farms producing dairy and meat products for stores
nationwide engaged in widespread organic fraud for years as the USDA
stood idly by, an agriculture industry watchdog said on Thursday.
A months-long
investigation
by the Cornucopia Institute discovered that 14 farms around the country
producing so-called organic products have been defying USDA
regulations, keeping animals tightly packed in facilities with no real
access to the outdoors, while federal management routinely ignored
pressure to investigate conditions.
The institute filed suit against those
farms on Thursday and called on the USDA to remove the industry management body, the National Organic Program.
Organic fraud is "unconscionable," said Mark A. Kastel, Cornucopia
senior farm policy analyst. "The job of the USDA is to oversee the
certifiers and ensure that they are doing their job. It is quite
possible that, in this case, there could have been a conspiracy and/or
negligence that the certifier was responsible for."
After what the Cornucopia Institute called "years of inaction" by the
USDA, the watchdog group conducted an independent investigation into
the conditions of a number of farms currently creating products for
labels that market themselves as humane, environmentally conscious, and
economically fair.
None of them passed muster.
Current organic rules dictate that animals designated as organic must
have their "health and natural behavior" accommodated, allowing cows to
graze and chickens to roam. Among the farms named in Cornucopia
Institute's lawsuit is Horizon Dairy, a grocery store staple that
depicts a happy, animated cow as its logo; but aerial photographs taken
during Cornucopia's investigation show that Horizon farms, as well as
the "vast majority" of large-scale farms that label themselves organic,
"had 100% of their animals confined in giant buildings or feedlots,"
conditions which violate federal standards for organic farms, the
institute says.
Other well-known brands whose dairies failed to measure up in Cornucopia's investigation were Herbruck's and Organic Valley.
"The federal organic regulations make it very clear that all organic
livestock must have access to the outdoors and that ruminants, like
dairy cows, must have access to pasture," Kastel said.
With the organic industry expanding in response to increased desire
for more natural products and humane treatment of animals, consumers are
likely to feel deceived to learn of the real conditions on those farms,
Kastel added. "Shoppers, who passionately support the ideals and values
represented by the organic label, understandably feel betrayed when
they see photos of these massive CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding
operations) masquerading as organic."
This is not the first time that Horizon, or other brands named in the
suit, have been in trouble for skirting regulations. Some of its
largest dairy providers are still being
investigated by the USDA for "improprieties."
But federal oversight is still inadequate, often taking years to
respond to complaints and review appeals from dairies that continue
operating illegally in the interim, Cornucopia says—actions which
diminish profits for legitimate farms nearby.
"The inaction by the USDA places thousands of ethical family-scale
farmers, who are competing with a couple of dozen giant dairies, at a
competitive disadvantage,” said Kevin Engelbert, an organic dairy farmer
and former member of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), a
citizen advisory panel. "Allowing these illegal dairies to continue to
operate is a travesty and significantly undercuts the supply-demand
dynamic that should be rewarding farmers in the marketplace and
providing a decent living for our families."
The criticism against the USDA does not stop at inaction against
illegal operators. The agency also restricted the oversight
responsibilities of the NOSB and weakened rules for the use of synthetic
ingredients in organic food production, Cornucopia says.
Many of those farms are denying that any impropriety exists. "A
single photo doesn’t really tell us anything about a farm and its
practices," Sonja Tuitele, a spokesperson for Aurora Organic Dairy,
told the
Washington Post. "Our records do indicate that all of our lactating cows at the Coldwater facility were grazing on pastures on May 17
th.
Since we don’t know what time of day this photo was taken, we can only
assume this photo was taken outside of their daily grazing hours."
Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides and member of the NOSB, called the current situation "untenable."
He added, "Someone needs to take responsibility for the divide in
this industry which has begun seriously undercutting the credibility of
the organic label and the livelihoods of ethical organic farmers."
