Organic family farmers threatened by last-minute rulemaking by the Bush administration

After eight years of delay, the USDA in late October finally published a draft rule intended to clamp down on giant factory farms milking thousands of cows.

Since the organic community first appealed to the USDA for better clarification and enforcement of regulations requiring organic dairy producers to graze their cattle, nearly nine years ago, the number of giant industrial dairy operations—with as many as 10,000 cows mostly confined in feedlots—has grown from two to approximately 15.

The draft rule that the USDA proposed appears to effectively clamp down on factory farm scofflaws. But the new rule, if enacted as written, would also put out of business the majority of ethical organic livestock family farmers, according to organic family farm advocates.

Farmers weren’t asked for their input

The USDA could have made minor regulatory language changes that would have clarified and forced the grazing of dairy cattle. Instead, the USDA completely rewrote the complicated organic livestock standards without input from the organic community or the National Organic Standards Board. It also represents the broadest rewrite of federal organic regulations in the $20 billion industry's relatively short history.

“The birds have finally come home to roost,” said Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst for The Cornucopia Institute. The Wisconsin-based farm policy research group estimates there are 35,000 to 45,000 cows on giant CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) operating in the U.S., producing as much as 40 percent of the nation's organic milk supply.

“These CAFOs are producing so much milk that they have depressed pricing and profit margins for organic family farmers, and now some are being forced out of business by this distressing situation,” Kastel said. “Organics was supposed to be the antidote to family farmers being forced off the land.”

Charges filed against the USDA

The Cornucopia Institute has filed formal legal complaints with the USDA aimed at compelling enforcement of the current organic livestock and management rules. These actions have led to the shut down or penalizing of some of what Cornucopia calls "organic scofflaws." But many in the industry criticize the USDA for failing to fully investigate many other alleged violations on giant farms.

“At first we were delighted that the USDA had stopped their delaying tactics and finally published a rule cracking down on the large factory farms that have been ‘scamming’ organic consumers and placing ethical family farmers at a competitive disadvantage,” stated Bill Welch, former chairman of the National Organic Standards Board and an Iowa livestock producer.

“Many in the industry,” Welch added, “have spent weeks carefully examining this dense document, and it has become painfully clear that it would not only crack down on certain factory farm abuses, but it’s also so restrictive that it would likely put the majority of family farmers producing organic milk and meat out of business. ”

What’s at stake for organic farming

New, major policies proposed by the USDA livestock/pasture rule (never reviewed or recommended by the National Organic Standards Board) include:

• Requiring animals to be outside year-round, without exemptions for extreme weather conditions. This would put the lives and well-being of livestock at risk and economically injure farmers.

• Setting aside part of a farmer's land in a "sacrifice" pasture for when weather conditions make grazing unsuitable. This might be a provision that some current operators cannot meet and might violate certain state and federal environmental standards. This may have positive application, but its overall impacts have never been fully analyzed.

• Classifying bees and fish as livestock. This will likely garner positive and negative response from that industry sector, depending on its perceived present and future regulatory impact.

• Eliminating the fattening of beef cattle on grain, in feedlots, for the last few months of their lives. Although many might view this proposal as meritorious, it would radically change the industry and could force some operators out of business. Full analysis and discussion by the organic community is vitally necessary.

• The USDA draft rule ignores the NOSB recommendation to eliminate the "continual transition" of conventional cattle, brought onto organic dairy operations. The industry has universally agreed that all animals brought onto a farm, after its initial transition to organics, must be managed organically from the last third of gestation. Animals raised for meat already have to meet this higher standard.

Many industry experts feel that the USDA has misinterpreted the law, for years, allowing giant factory farms to "burn out" their cattle and prematurely sending them to slaughter, then replace them with cheap conventional cattle on an ongoing basis. This new rulemaking proposes that the Department’s "misinterpretations" become institutionalized as law.

“It's inexcusable,” said Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association, “that the USDA’s rule would allow conventional cattle to be brought onto organic farms, and milked, on a continuous basis.”

“We won't mince words,” said Cornucopia’s Kastel. “This rule, as proposed, is a bad rule!”

An alternative proposal

In response, a consortium of organizations representing organic family farmers has crafted an "alternative" rule proposal. Led by FOOD Farmers, with support from The Cornucopia Institute, organic certifiers, and other policy experts, the revisions they have drafted would carry out what is said to be the will of the organic community, farmers and consumers.

The community’s alternative proposal would, among other things, require that all organic dairy, sheep, goat, and beef producers graze their animals for the entire grazing season and sets a minimum percentage of feed from pasture.

“We need farmers and consumers to join together once again and support with a unified voice the alternative livestock/pasture rule proposal,” Kastel said. He believes they will do so if they see that the farmers themselves are at risk and their access to authentic organic food could be in jeopardy.

Commenting period deadline: Dec. 23

Without such a clear message, Kastel said that the bureaucrats and political appointees at the USDA to will have free rein to decide "what is best" for the organic livestock industry. He mentioned that more details and sample letters can be found on Cornucopia’s website at www.cornucopia.org (click on the “Projects” tab for USDA Pasture/Livestock Rulemaking).

The USDA has set a 60-day public comment period on their new rule, closing on Dec. 23. Cornucopia, the Organic Consumers Association, and some the largest organic certifiers, other groups representing farmers and consumers, and elected officials such as Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold are formally asking the USDA to extend the public comment period for an additional 30 days to Jan. 23, 2009. The USDA has given no indication whether or not an extension will be granted.

For more information, visit Cornucopia Institute.