Organic Feed Still Required

ORGANIC LIVESTOCK STILL REQUIRES 100% CERTIFIED ORGANIC FEED!!

Many of you are familiar with the unfortunate action by a few members of Congress who sought to change the federal law and organic regulations to allow for meats to be labeled organic, even if animals are not fed 100% certified organic feeds. The special interest rider was tacked on to the 2003 Consolidated Budget Bill in February to appease one Congressman in Georgia and his one constituent, a large poultry producer there. It was fully repealed in the compromise supplemental appropriations bill passed by Congress on April 12.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont successfully led the fight to repeal the rider. The National Campaign for Sustainable griculture's and the Organic Trade Association's email updates made it possible for many farmers to keep up with the agonizing task of building support for the repeal. Thanks for all your letters and calls!!! (If you were not on the email alert list and would like to be please contact the National Campaign at www.sustainableagriculture.net. You can also check out OTA's web page for constant updates on organic issues at www.ota.com.

The repealed rider would have allowed producers to label their meat and dairy products "organic" even though they do not meet USDA¹s strict criteria, including that the animals be fed organically grown feed. The method for putting this into effect was to not allow any funds to be used to enforce the 100 percent organic feed requirement for certified organic livestock operations unless a report prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture confirms organically produced feed is commercially available at no more than twice the cost of conventionally produced feed to meet current market demand. It was written broadly enough that it essentially created a loophole for any livestock producer in the country to get around the organic feed requirement and would have made it impossible for certifiers to enforce any requirements.