Corporate Organics Corporate Organics

For a diagram of the major corporate players in the organic food industry as of July 2007, click here

For more details visit: http://www.cornucopia.org/

Organic Dairy Producers Call Upon Allies for Defense of Integrity in Federal Organic Standards

The Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA), the Midwest Organic Dairy Producers Association (MODPA) and the Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (WODPA) represent over 850 organic dairies across the country. The three organizations represent organic dairy farmers from Maine to California, regardless of to whom they sell their milk. They have many different production methods including seasonal grass based dairies and more traditional production methods that combine pasture, conserved forage and grain. They also market their milk in many different ways, selling to the major brands including Horizon, Stonyfield, Organic Valley, Humboldt Dairy, as well as through smaller cooperatives, independent manufacturers of organic dairy product and direct to the consumer.

The three organizations have recently held their annual meetings and have had resounding support from their producer members that the following two rules are the cornerstones of organic dairy certification and the continuing integrity of the USDA Organic Seal:

1. After a dairy operation has been certified, animals brought on to the operation must be organically raised from the last third of gestation, regardless of how or when the operation converted to organic dairy production. All replacement animals born on certified operations must be managed organically.

2. Dairy animals over 6 months of age, whether dry or lactating, must graze pasture during the grazing season but for no less than 120 days a year and the grazed feed must provide significant intake, at a minimum, an average of 30% of the dry matter intake per cow per day.

The final rule for access to pasture was scheduled to be released by the National Organic Program (NOP) back in 2006, but it is now the end of 2007 and the final rule has still not been issued. In the meantime, the future of the integrity of organic dairy products remains at risk. We are at risk because it means animals fed GMO feeds, fed ionophore antibiotics as coccidiostats and antimicrobial growth promoters, fed blood products in milk replacer, and / or treated with antibiotics their first year of life will routinely be brought onto organic dairy operations. The FDA has just ruled in favor of the use of cloned animals in the food supply, and recent news reports indicate that cloned livestock are already making it into the conventional market undetected. This means the possibility that cloned livestock and / or their offspring may infiltrate the organic system if conventional replacement animals continue to be allowed onto organic dairy operations.

We, as representatives of organic dairy producers across the country, have decided to take a leadership role and stop that risk by taking the matter into our own hands since we can no longer wait for NOP to take action. We know that you are as concerned about the integrity of our national organic dairy herd as we are and realize that we need to maintain that herd in a manner that is beyond reproach and legitimate criticism. Even with the slow moving nature of standards change, we as individuals, family farms, supportive businesses and organizations will have moved ahead in a timely way to match the rapid growth in the supply of organic milk and dairy products.

We ask that you sign yourself or your organization/business/non-profit on to support the nation's organic dairy producers in our effort to defend the integrity of federal organic standards.

Sincerely,

Steve Morrison, Pres. North East Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA)

Steve Pechacek, Pres. Midwest Organic Dairy Producers Association (MODPA)

Tony Azevedo, Pres. Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (WODPA)

For more info:

Ed Maltby, NODPA Executive Director 30 Keets Road, Deerfield, MA 01342

tel. 413-772-0444 ednodpa@comcast.net

So, What's the Big Deal if Wal-Mart Makes a Mistake?

by Jim Goodman

Madison Indymedia (www.madison.indymedia.org) Posted 12/4/06

That was the question asked by the host on a recent Public Radio call-in show. Her question to her guest from the Cornucopia Institute was in regard to recent charges that Wal-Mart was passing conventional grocery items off as USDA certified organic. A mistake? I doubt it. Seriously, think about it, you start a big push in marketing a new line of high profit products and one of the first things you do is mislabel your products, “accidentally”? As Jim Hightower would say “Do they think we were born with sucker wrappers around our heads?” read more...

Organic Consumers Association (OCA) Calls for Boycott of Bogus Organic Milk Brands;

Study Highlights Which Organic Brands are Truly Organic

Contact:

Ronnie Cummins, 218-349-3836

Katya Kruglak, 703-304-5075

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2006 -- The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is calling on consumers to boycott milk brands that claim to be organic while routinely importing calves from conventional farms and raising the animals in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.

"Consumers buying products labeled 'organic' do not realize that they often essentially being scammed by some of the larger companies who put pictures of happily grazing cows on their products, but in reality keep their cows confined in ways very similar to traditional factory farms. OCA is calling on consumers to boycott these bogus organic products , and give their consumer dollars to ethical producers who are upholding strict organic standards," says Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the Organic Consumers Association.

For the confused consumer trying to buy ethical organic dairy, there is a new study, Maintaining the Integrity of Organic Milk, produced by the Cornucopia Institute that rates 68 organic dairy name-brands and private labels, exposing the dubious practices of some so-called organic companies, and highlighting companies that are producing truly organic milk.

"We found that approximately 20 percent of the companies we surveyed do not meet what we think should be the basic standard to label a product organic. Our hope our report and scorecard will enable consumers to make ethical shopping choices," says Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst for the Cornucopia Institute and the report's primary author. Companies could receive a rating of one to five cows depending on how they scored.

The study is available online at http://cornucopia.org/index.php/dairy_brand_ratings/

OCA is concerned by the spread of lower quality products being labeled organic to meet the increasing consumer demand for organic. This is especially true of many big box stores, such as Wal-Mart and Costco, who are scrambling to source and sell more products with the organic label.

<<<<<<< "What is happening is that the massive demand for organic products is outstripping demand in the U.S. Instead of helping American farmers and ranchers make the difficult but necessary transition to organic, unscrupulous companies are moving to lower organic standards and import billions of dollars of organic foods and ingredients from overseas suppliers such as China, where labor standards are atrocious and organic certification standards are questionable, says Cummins. ======= "What is happening is that the massive demand for organic products is outstripping demand in the U.S. Instead of helping American farmers and ranchers make the difficult but necessary transition to organic, unscrupulous companies are moving to lower organic standards and import billions of dollars of organic foods and ingredients from overseas suppliers such as China, where labor standards are atrocious and organic certification standards are questionable, says Cummins. >>>>>>>