ACTION ALERTS
ACTION NEEDED ON Organic Dairy
February 1, 2019
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NOC members are calling on the Secretary of Agriculture and the National Organic Program to restore fairness in the organic dairy sector. Unfortunately, violations of pasture rule requirements for organic dairy livestock, as well as lack of consistency in how dairy cows are transitioned to organic production (‘Origin of Livestock’), have resulted in an uneven playing field.
We believe that this lack of consistent enforcement and fairness has contributed to the oversupply of milk in the marketplace, with devastating effects on pay prices to organic dairy farmers.
In October of 2018, NOC convened a meeting for organic leaders in St. Paul, Minnesota alongside the National Organic Standards Board meeting. During that meeting, NOC called on the top official at the National Organic Program, Deputy Administrator Jenny Tucker, to take action to level the playing field for organic dairy farmers. The NOSB also took up this issue by passing a unanimous resolution urging USDA Secretary Perdue to issue new regulations on Origin of Livestock that reflect the will of public stakeholders and the organic community.
The organic community has weighed in with Secretary Perdue on this issue!
We let the Secretary know that this issue is critically important to the integrity of organic and that we want fairness in the organic dairy sector. If you support fairness in organic dairy, subscribe to NOC enews to get action alerts and updates.
Dozens of organizations, companies, and farms have written letters calling on USDA to take action. Here are the letters that organizations and companies have sent: