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Sign Petition to the National Organic Standards Board to Stop
Factory Farm Organics
February 28, 2005
http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb.htm
Now that organic agriculture is a $15 billion industry and growing,
it is squarely in the crosshairs of multinational corporations. Major
food manufacturers are entering organic production, cutting corners,
inflating prices, and endangering the integrity of organic agriculture
(factory farms, nonorganic inputs, and imported ingredients with questionable
certification).
Some large corporations, along with a complacent USDA, have become
masters at creating loopholes for corporate organic farming, such as:
- Importing vegetables or feed grains from Third World countries without
USDA site certification visits.
- Raising chickens without access to the outdoors.
- Including unapproved preservatives in products.
- Buying replacement dairy heifers shot-up with antibiotics and from
nonorganic sources.
- Operating a factory farm with 70,000 chickens or 5000 cows.
"Organic" Factory Farms?
After years of inaction, the USDA's National Organic Program has recently
been forced to address a number of large, industrial dairy farms-without
adequate pasture that are producing "organic" milk. These
factory farms range in size from approximately 3,000 to 4,000 cows and
are basically confinement feedlots without legitimate access to pasture
for feed and exercise, as required by the federal organic regulations.
Milk from most of these mega-farms is being distributed by Dean/Horizon,
the largest milk bottler in the United States, and under a number of
private-label brands that are available at natural food and conventional
grocers.
These corporate farms and their wealthy investors are jeopardizing
the livelihoods of organic family-scale dairy farmers throughout the
United States, along with the more modest-sized companies and cooperatives
that market their milk.
Turf War
Recently, The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group
that supports family farmers, filed formal complaints against three
of these farms operating in Idaho, California, and Colorado. This issue
will come to a head at the semiannual meeting of the National Organic
Standards Board (NOSB) in Washington, D.C., March 1-3.
Farmers and consumers will make their voice heard at this meeting.
Many farmers in the Northeast, and others as far away as California,
will be coming to testify in support of enacting strong rules requiring
access to pasture for dairy cows, sheep, goats, and beef cattle. They
will also call for enforcement of the requirement for access to the
outdoors for other species such as poultry.
Make Your Voice Heard
1. Please share this action alert with your circle of friends and colleagues.
2. E-mail, fax, or mail a letter to the USDA. If you email all your
comments to The Cornucopia Institute by February 28, we will hand carry
your message and deliver it formally at the Washington, D.C., NOSB
meeting.
3. Please consider coming to the meeting in person. This is especially
important if you are an organic livestock producer. For meeting information,
directions, and accommodation options contact
.
4. If you are an organic livestock producer or processor and cannot
make it to the meeting, we will do our best to partner you with another
farmer/rancher or a consumer from the Washington area who will read
your three-minute written testimony. Again, please contact The Cornucopia
Institute, preferably via e-mail, for full instructions on preparing
your (proxy) testimony.
You Have the Power
Whether it is livestock raised in industrial conditions, imported
organic soybeans from Brazil, or name-brand organic vegetables from
China (burning down rain forests and shipping food around the world
in not sustainable!), a lot is on the line right now for family-scale
farmers. All the hope that organic agriculture has offered is at risk.
If successful, this first action concerning organic livestock production
will demonstrate to the agribusiness lobbyists, USDA bureaucrats, and
members of Congress that the organic farming community is going to fight
to maintain the ethical reputation we have earned in the eyes of the
consumer.
Please join us!
SIGN PETITION TO THE NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD TO STOP
FACTORY FARM ORGANICS
It will be hand delivered at the National Organic Standards Board
meeting in Washington D.C., March 1-3, 2005.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/nosb.htm
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