Scandal in Big Brand Organic Milk Hurts Farmers
Wiki photo: A Confined Area Feeding Operation (CAFO). Do these look like happy cows?
"Since 2005, a handful of giant factory farms, each milking thousands of cows, have been accused of skirting strict federal organic regulations and creating a surplus of cheap 'phony' organic milk flooding the market and driving down profit margins for legitimate industry participants. The Cornucopia Institute estimates that as much as 30-40% of organic milk is now coming from giant industrial operations, .milking as many as 7,000 cows each."
So says a press release carried in the Cream Line small dairy newsletter (Issue 37-38, pp. 26-27). It quotes the Institute's Mark Kastel as saying that when Cornucopia called violatiosn to the attention of USDA,
"Either the USDA refused to investigate or, when they actually found violations, they have allowed illegal activities to continue."
Aurora Dairy has threatened to sue not only Cornucopia, but also the Organic Consumers Association and the Center for Food Safety, alleging "false, disparaging statements" about the company.
Can a Confined Area Feeding Operation (CAFO) qualify to produce organic milk? You'd think organic herds would be pasture-fed— and indeed the USDA requires it— but that's not the case for some of these big producers. And whether within the law or not (and in some cases they have been warned for not being within the law), factory-farmed milk is not what consumers believe they are getting when the buy organic.
By the way, Cornucopia offers a score card for organic milk producers, ranking them by how well they conform to the spirit (as well as the letter) of organic farming. Small, family-owned farms get more points (100) than investor-owned corporations (60) for example. Cull rates, milk sourcing, and pasture availability are also considered. Rankings were 0-5 cows based on a possible 1,200 points, where five cows is the best rating.
By Cornucopia's score card, Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, and Western Family all ranked one cow. Altadena, Aurora, Horizon, and Rockview all ranked zero cows for refusing to participate. Of the five-cow brands, Thistleworks Farm and Butterworks Farm are national or regional brands, and many smaller producers ranked five cows as well. Greenfield Farms, Organic Valley, and Whole Foods all ranked four cows.
The good news is, you can choose to buy real organic milk. Almost every state and region has local producers. So before you put that big-brand milk in your cart, think: shouldn't organic mean no CAFOs?
Categories: Economics,Resilient Community
Tags: slow food farming economics
It has been suggested to me that true, USDA certified, organic milk is cruel because USDA organic does not allow for any antibiotic use ever. Having suffered through mastitis myself, I have to wonder about a practice that doesn't allow for the humane treatment of an actual illness and if that could even be true.
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I think there are two issues here: first, mastitis can generally be prevented through careful dairying. In three years, we've only had one goat get it.
Second, there are a number of treatments for mastitis that do not require antibiotics (just as there are treatments for human infections that do not require anitbiotics, such as soaking a skin infection in hot water, a remedy I use often here on the ranch). See for example http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2006/060213.htm and http://www.scottandannspringer.com/Organic-Food-Labeling-Draws-Consumers.html.
Lastly, under the USDA Orgabic program, an animal can be treated with antibiotics, and in fact must be so treated if holistic remedies fail. But it has to be removed from organic production afterward. CFR Title 7 Sec, 205.238(c) states:
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Thanks DJ. That makes things a lot clearer to me (I didn't think about the fact that I personally never took antibiotics for the malady either). My concern would be then, that in a large "organic" operation time wouldn't be taken to treat the cow with those alternative methods. Which, brings us back to small and local.
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Exactly. Some of these giant dairies don't even take the time to let the cows out to pasture. Can a CAFO possibly be organic?
Originally the organic approach was not just for the health of the consumer, it was for the holistic health of the consumer, community, and environment. But the big guys have found ways to circumvent that. And of course they have more pull in Washington than small, family-owned farms.
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