Common Ground: Got Organic Milk?

October 2005 | Features

Got Organic Milk?

Maybe Not!

By Jim Slama

When you pick up organic milk at your local grocery, you probably have idyllic visions of happy cows frolicking in a rolling green pasture, chewing their cuds and basically hanging out.

Sorry to burst your bubble. In recent months, a controversy has raged in the organic world concerning certain organic dairy farms. The concern: some large-scale organic dairy operations are currently not giving their cows access to pasture. Instead, these companies are perpetuating (and profiting from) the myth of the happy cow, while making a corporate practice of confining their herds to relatively small areas. In essence, this practice is the same industrial model that rules the conventional dairy world where factory farms are the norm.

Last month the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)—the group authorized by the USDA to maintain the integrity of organic standards—created a new guidance document that would mandate access to pasture for dairy cows. Yet, at the same meeting, the USDA did not allow the rule changes. Why not? We spoke with three of the story’s most important players to try to find an answer.

The Dairy Debate

Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group, created a wave of controversy and media attention in the organic dairy industry in February when he filed complaints with the USDA against Horizon Organic, Aurora Dairy and a farm owned by Case Vander Eyk, Jr., alleging that these so-called “organic” dairy companies were in fact engaging in factory farming operations. The Institute’s complaints asked the USDA to investigate whether these three farms were violating the law by milking a large number of cows in a relatively small setting, without legitimate access to pasture, and still labeling the milk organic.

Kevin O’Rell is Vice President of Research and Development for Horizon Organic, as well as Vice Chair of the NOSB. The Horizon Organic company is owned by Dean Foods, the nation’s largest dairy processor and distributor, and sells more organic milk than any company in the world. In his dual role as Horizon employee and NOSB member, O’Rell for the first time went on the record about this issue.

Whole Foods Market Chairman John Mackey has built his company into the largest organic retailer in the world. In recent years, he has led an effort within the company to create stronger standards for the care of animals. Because of Whole Foods’ buying power, it is likely this effort will have a major impact on the entire organic and natural meat and dairy industries.

Mark Kastel (Cornucopia Inst.): “Large-scale factory dairies, masquerading as organic farms, are not good for anyone. They threaten the environment, they don’t treat workers well, the cows are kept in confinement, and the milk produced lacks some of the beneficial, health enhancing components found in milk from legitimate organic farms. In addition, if these mega-dairies proliferate, they ultimately will erode consumer confidence in the organic label. There is no place for these operations in organic agriculture and I hope the USDA takes the steps to protect consumers from unknowingly purchasing milk from them.”

Kevin O’Rell (Horizon Organic): “Over 70 percent of our milk comes from 350 family farms that we have contracts with, and we are in the process of adding another 100 family farms to keep up with growing demand. Horizon Organic is responsible for transitioning hundreds of thousands of conventional acres to organic across the country, including 70,000 acres in Idaho alone.”

John Mackey (Whole Foods): “Large-scale organic dairy farms with 4,000 to 6,000 cows that don’t have proper access to pasture are not what Whole Foods customers think of when they buy organic milk. In my opinion, even if they currently meet federal organic standards, these are factory farming practices and they have no place in organic agriculture.”

MK: “Let’s look at the Horizon facility in Idaho. Forty-two hundred milking cows means there are probably well over 5,000 total when you count young animals. It’s impossible to graze 5000+ cows on the few hundred acres Horizon implies. For that many cows, in the arid West, they would literally need thousands of acres, not hundreds.”

KO: “This farm is in full compliance with current organic standards. We also are redesigning the facility to insure that the cows will have access to pasture by adding hundreds of acres of additional certified organic land for them to graze on. When this transition is complete, this will be a model facility for large-scale organic milk production.”

JM: “Whole Foods Market was pleased that the National Organic Standards Board passed a guidance document that will create stringent requirements mandating that organic dairy farmers give their animals access to pasture. This will close glaring loopholes that have allowed some companies to use factory farming style operations to produce organic milk. Our customers want real organic milk that comes from healthy cows that are raised on pastures as dairy cows have been traditionally raised. It is imperative that this directive become law as soon as possible.”

MK: “Cornucopia is concerned that the USDA blocked efforts by the National Organic Standards Board to close the loopholes that allow factory farmed milk to be labeled organic. The Board has been working on this for over five years. Since there is about to be a large transition of members on the NOSB, on the surface it seems like they might be waiting for a new Board to be in place so they can water down the recommendations.”

KO: “Horizon strongly supported the rule change that mandates access to pasture for all dairy cows. As vice chair of the NOSB, I was surprised that the USDA delayed the adoption of the new regulations, but understand their concern to get the rules correct so they stand up to the rulemaking process. I believe the new rule recommendations from the NOSB will be addressed by the spring meeting.”

JM: “Twenty-five years from now, I believe that factory farming in the US will probably be illegal. First, we have to create more compassionate alternatives. As we create a high standard alternative, people will be willing to look at factory farms more closely. They will move out of denial when they understand that there is an alternative. Our descendants will probably look back at this time with horror at the way we treated livestock animals just as we now look back with horror to the way our ancestors exploited Native Americans, people of color and women. Animals may not have equal value to human beings, but they are sentient beings that feel pain and suffer. They deserve a decent life and as pain-free a death as possible.”

Jim Slama is the founder of familyfarmed.org, which builds markets for local, organic farmers.

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