WASHINGTON—Organic milk farmers are petitioning president Obama and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for new rules designed to reduce violations of the organic label. The pending rewrite of the organic livestock standards, with an emphasis on assuring compliance with provisions that require that ruminants, like dairy cows, be grazed, is currently under review at OMB.
“With the flattening of demand for organic food, giant dairies have flooded the market with cheap milk that is now crushing the family farmers who have built this industry,” said Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst at The Cornucopia Institute. “These CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) are anathema to organic consumers investing in a more environmentally sensitive approach to food production and humane animal husbandry. Ironically, one of the reasons they are willing to pay extra for organic milk is they think that the farmers who produce it are being fairly treated.”
The Cornucopia Institute said the current surplus of organic milk, caused by factory farms, has forced prices down for family farmers, which had led to some organic farmers facing foreclosure. Organic farmers are particularly resentful of Aurora Dairy and Straus Dairy that heavily lobbied USDA during both the Bush and Obama administrations, according to The Cornucopia Institute.