WASHINGTON, DC: Organic dairy farmers from throughout the country descended on the nation’s capital last week in a show of solidarity requesting a USDA crackdown on large industrial dairy farms producing “organic” milk. The farmers present, along with over 8000 submitted comments from consumers and other organic producers, prompted...
Wed, Mar. 02, 2005 By Andrew Martin Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON – (KRT) – Henry Perkins, an organic dairy farmer from Maine, brought a sign to Washington that read “Let Them Eat Grass.” On Wednesday, after two days of debate, a federal advisory panel on the organic industry took Perkins’...
CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The Cornucopia Institute filed two formal complaints today with the USDA’s Office of Compliance asking them to initiate investigations into alleged violations of the federal organic law by factory farms operating in Idaho and California. At issue are fundamental organic livestock management practices that require ruminants, including...
CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The Cornucopia Institute, on January 10th, filed a formal complaint with the USDA’s National Organic Program asking them to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of the federal organic law by a factory farm operating in Colorado. At issue is whether it is legal to confine cows...
CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN:The USDA’s National Organic Program immediately responded to sharp criticism from the organic community alleging that, through complacency, they were allowing large factory farms to produce organic milk while skirting the legal requirement that the cows have access to pasture as a fundamental part of their feed source.The...
CORNUCOPIA, WISCONSIN: The Cornucopia Institute, today, filed a formal complaint with the USDA’s National Organic Program asking them to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of the federal organic law by a factory farm operating in Colorado. At issue is whether it is legal to confine cows in an...
Letter to the Editor from Anna Blythe Lappé, Small Planet Institute A good friend of Cornucopia, Anna Blythe Lappé, Food and Society Policy Fellow, WK Kellogg Foundation and Founding Principal, Small Planet Institute takes one of the most relentless, and ideologically unwavering, critics of organic food, Alex Avery, to...
By Mark Kastel A thought-provoking question came in from an astute observer of the natural foods industry regarding my article in the July/August Cooperative Grocer: “Reclaiming the True Meaning of Organic.” She wanted to know about some of the corporate ownership stakes in familiar organic brands. Are megacorporations, including...
The same right-wing think tank that conspired with John Stossel of ABC News, in an erroneous attempt to discredit organic food (subsequently forcing an apology from the network), is at it again. The Hudson Institute, and its father and son team of Dennis and Alex Avery, are attempting to...
By Mary Bergin The Capital Times The “100 percent organic” label is the federal government’s way of defining product purity, but not all organic farmers say it’s worth the work or expense to obtain.
At a news conference this morning USDA Secretary Ann Veneman announced that the agency is withdrawing its recent policy directives clarifying certain organic food production standards. The move comes amidst a rising tide of criticism from organic food producers, consumers and marketers who viewed the directives as a weakening...
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