Natural Communities Magazine A magazine devoted to the local natural wellness culture.

Aurora Organic Dairy’s High Plains Dairy near Gill, Colo., will be allowed to continue operations despite a substantial fly problem bothering neighbors.

The Board of Weld County Commissioners decided on a split vote Wednesday to continue a hearing until August 2008 that could revoke the dairy’s special permit to operate the dairy with 4,500 cows.

Of central concern to dairy neighbors is a substantial fly problem that they say has inundated their properties and homes. Commissioners are giving the dairy until August to absolve the pest situation.

“I would like this dairy to disappear,” said Wendy Rogers, who owns a farm next to the dairy. “The dairy is too big to manage naturally.”

Rogers said the smell of natural insecticides that Aurora has been using on homes and property to kill the flies near the dairy has even made her sick.

“I’m disappointed in the county commissioners,” Rogers said after the four-hour hearing. “I thought they were there for us.”

Aurora officials admitted the problem and apologized to neighbors, but appealed to the commissioners to give them a second chance to rectify the pest situation. The farm is run by Scott and Brad Cockroft, and is called the High Plains Dairy.

“We’ve put systems in place so it will not happen again,” said Lee Sachnoff, lawyer for Aurora, which has its headquarters in Boulder. “We’re serious about this problem.”

Aurora officials said an inexperienced employee spread manure over the wrong field because the dairy’s new compost heap wasn’t working properly.

Some commissioners were in favor of revoking the permit from Aurora and others were in favor of reducing the number of cattle Aurora could have at the farm.

“I’m still in favor of immediate revocation,” said Commissioner Bill Jerke. “It’s pretty clear that they’ve burned some bridges with neighbors — they’re burning some bridges in this room today.”

Commissioner Bob Masden said the commissioners have never had to consider revoking a dairy permit like this before and called for a reduction of cows at the dairy.

“I know it doesn’t fit your financial model,” Masden said. “You guys created the situation; you guys get it fixed.”

Even if the commissioners revoke the permit, Aurora could still have more than 3,000 head of cattle on the land, though Aurora officials said it would cost the company millions of dollars.

Marc Peperzak, CEO of Aurora, said reducing the number of cattle at the dairy would be “impossible.”

“When I say millions, I’m not exaggerating,” Peperzak said. “It’s grossly unfair. It’s not right.”

Peperzak said the company has hired a “world-class” entomologist from Kansas to help mitigate the fly problem and added that Aurora is trying to help neighbors get rid of flies with spraying.

Laurie Exby, environmental specialist with the Weld Department of Health, said Aurora has to prove that they can remedy the problem.

“Their actions will speak louder than their words if they can do it,” she said.

What’s next? The Board of Weld County Commissioners will consider revoking Aurora’s organic dairy farm permit for a facility near Gill at 10 a.m. Aug. 13 in the Weld Centennial Center, 915 10th St.

www.organicconsumers.org

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture (PDA) announced new regulations that appear to prohibit any kind of rBGH-free labeling on dairy products, including “rBGH (rBST)-Free” and wording such as “Our farmers pledge not to use …” Click here for press release.

The PDA examined labeling of 140 companies and decided that 16 didn’t comply with their new regulations. Of the 16, seven are headquartered in Pennsylvania and nine in other states that sell products there. The PDA has given these 16 until Dec. 31, 2007 to change their labels.

The rationale given is that current labeling is “making it hard for consumers to make informed decisions.” This statement can best be characterized as the brown substance that comes out of the back end of a male bovine.

This has nothing to do with protecting consumers. It’s all about suppressing information that allows consumers to make an educated choice about which dairy products to buy. Obviously, Monsanto’s cronies have been working hard to pressure Pennsylvania to take steps to stop the tidal wave of dairy processors going rBGH-free. Their solution to consumers flocking to rBGH-free products? Make it impossible for them to tell the difference by eliminating the labels.

This regulation, incredibly, goes against the rulings of both the FDA and FTC earlier this year that almost all current rBGH-free labeling is appropriate and legal.

Oregon PSR will do everything possible to counter this outrage.

www.organicconsumers.org

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its draft of the $300 billion 2007-2012 Farm Bill last week. The 1300-page bill, now headed to the main Senate floor, includes, as usual, billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies for chemical and energy­intensive crops, factory farms, and junk food purveyors, while “nickle and dime-ing” organic agriculture, conservation, nutrition, and alternative energy programs. Let your Senators know you want to eliminate all taxpayer subsidies, other than those designed to make our food and farming system healthier and more sustainable, and specifically you want a “Fair Share” for organics commensurate with our current 3% market share. Besides billions in corporate subsidies, this version of the Farm Bill includes implementation of the controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS would require that all farmers, even those with just one cow, horse, or chicken, to implant their animals with an electronic tracking device and permanently report their movements to the USDA. This expensive Big Brother procedure, which lobbyists crafted so as to exempt factory farms, could put many small family farms out of business. Please contact your Senators to cut corporate subsidies, eliminate NAIS, and support increases in funding in the Farm Bill for for conservation, organic agriculture, healthy food and beginning farmer programs.

Take Action: www.organicconsumers.org

Agency Fails to Take Enforcement Action against Industry Giants

Cornucopia, WI – The Cornucopia Institute sharply criticized the conclusion by USDA that an 8000-head factory dairy in Idaho was operating within the federal organic standards. Cornucopia had requested an investigation based on its site visit to the giant industrial-scale dairy, owned by Dean Foods, and the gathering of evidence from other industry professionals with first-hand knowledge of the operation.

The USDA informed Cornucopia today that it had closed its investigation into Dean Foods’ Horizon dairy in Paul, Idaho and another corporate-owned facility in Kennedyville, Maryland. The USDA investigation was in response to a formal legal complaint filed by Cornucopia in 2006.

“We know from our visit to the Idaho facility that they had no functional pasture meeting legal requirements and were unable to graze their huge dairy herd,” said Mark Kastel, codirector of the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. Cornucopia’s legal complaint included interviews with the veterinarian and with livestock professionals associated with Horizon’s Maryland dairy indicating that they were not pasturing the animals there, either.

The USDA’s findings regarding the dairies Dean Foods runs producing Horizon brand organic milk comes on the heels of a broiling controversy in the organic industry regarding other large corporate dairy marketers that have allegedly been scamming the public.

“This is the second time in two months that the USDA has sided with the operators of factory-farms, ignoring their impact on the reputation of the organic label, the economic damage they are doing to ethical, family-scale organic dairy farmers and the sham they are perpetrating on consumers who want to believe in the organic label,” said Jim Goodman, an organic dairy farmer milking 45 cows near Wonewoc, WI.

On August 31, the USDA made public its investigative findings, also pursuant to a Cornucopia legal complaint, regarding Aurora Organic Dairy, operator of five massive factory dairies and the leading supplier of private-label milk in the nation (Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, etc.). In the Aurora case, the USDA’s investigators found 14 “willful” violations of the federal law governing organics. However, the $100 million enterprise was allowed to continue in business and was not fined for the organic improprieties found by investigators.

“It must pay to have powerful friends in Washington, DC!,” said Dave Minar, a long-time organic dairyman milking 150 cows near New Prague, Minnesota. “The USDA has ignored well-documented concerns about the propriety of these factory-farms for years, allowing large corporate agribusiness to take over a majority of the organic dairy business. This places ethical families like mine at a distinct competitive disadvantage.”

The Cornucopia Institute filed their legal complaint against the Dean/Horizon dairy, operating in desert-like conditions in Idaho after being invited to inspect the farm. Cornucopia found that from 2002-2006, like the Aurora operations, Horizon’s milk cows lacked access to any meaningful amount of pasture, as the law requires.

“Prior to our visit in 2006, Dean Foods quickly planted a crop of oats, not generally recognized as having value for grazing animals, so they could have something green on the ground surrounding their massive barns and feedlots,” said Kastel. “By the time we were there the mature, 2 foot tall oats were unpalatable by the animals and did not meet the legal definition of pasture.”

Within two weeks of their visit, Cornucopia supplied additional photographic evidence to the USDA illustrating that the oats had been mechanically harvested and all that was left surrounding the Dean/Horizon milking facility was the 3/4” stubble and residue of the old crop.

“Based on the evidence collected, Dean Foods was clearly not operating a grass-based dairy,” stated Dick Parrott, a Twin Falls, ID organic livestock producer. “It costs more money, and is more labor intensive, to produce truly organic milk where the cows are not in confinement. The USDA’s ruling appears to be a grave injustice to the 1600 or so hard-working farm families who are rightly respected by organic consumers.”

The lack of enforcement action by the USDA in the Aurora matter has led to at least six class-action lawsuits around the country, representing consumers in over 30 states, filed against Aurora. The legal actions claim that organic milk drinkers were defrauded by the corporation’s labeling milk as organic that did not meet organic standards.

“There is a higher authority in this country than the USDA in these matters — the organic consumer. And they are now making their voices heard,” said Kastel.

Cornucopia has waged a long-term marketplace battle with both Dean Foods and Aurora. Their comprehensive report on the controversy, and scorecard rating all organic milk brands (www.cornucopia.org) has cost the companies significant market share.

“Organic consumers feel betrayed by large corporate players trying to pass off milk from factory-farms as being ecologically sustainable or meeting their widely-held views concerning humane animal husbandry,” said Ronnie Cummins director of the Organic Consumers Association. “Besides for the question of their legality, these factory-farms do not meet the ‘spirit’ of the organic law and no matter how much money Dean and Aurora spend on their greenwashing campaigns, they are unlikely to succeed in the long run.”

The Cornucopia Institute has announced its intention to seek a judicial review, by filing a federal lawsuit, challenging the USDA’s lack of enforcement and its abrogating the mandate received from Congress to protect the integrity of organic commerce.

“The USDA and the corporate players they are protecting have opened up a can of worms, and let me tell you these worms were not raised organically,” Kastel stated. Cornucopia stated they have already received inquiries from Congressional leadership in both parties that are interested in staging both hearings and requesting a thorough GAO study of this controversy.

“The USDA’s lack of enforcement illustrates that the concerns of many in the organic community – that the corporate-friendly USDA would betray organic ideals – might have been well-taken,” lamented Kastel. “However, too many good people have spent too many years building the organic label into something that has true economic value. I’ll be damned if we just hand this over to corporate exploiters without a fight.”

Cornucopia emphasizes that based on their in-depth research 90% of all name-brand organic dairy products are produced with respect for both the letter and spirit of the organic law.

A photo gallery containing images from the Horizon and Aurora factory-dairies can be found on the Cornucopia website at www.cornucopia.org.