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Fri, 12 May 2006

USDA Criticized for Helping 'Industrialize' Organic Farming

Agency Allowing Nonorganic Cattle in Dairy Production, Washington - May 10, The Cornucopia Institute

Proposed new federal organic livestock regulations are coming under sharp criticism for failing to close critical loopholes that are allowing a handful of factory-scale dairy farms in western states to continue bringing into their milk herd new animals raised with antibiotics, hormones, and genetically engineered feed produced with toxic pesticides.

The new rules ignore recommendations endorsed by the USDA’s own expert advisory panel, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). In 2002 and 2003, the NOSB unanimously passed recommendations that all animals being brought onto an existing organic dairy farm had to be under organic management starting no later than the last three months of pregnancy.

"Bringing in nonorganic animals is an unethical management practice that violates the trust of consumers," said Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group.

Read the rest of 'USDA Criticized'

To me, the USDA regulating organic standards is almost as ludicrous an idea as the Bush administration working for world peace. It would be foolish to expect anything other than exactly what's been happening to organic agriculture. Every facet of our self-elected government is owned by multinational corporations, and exists to serve them. Most of the organic food manufacturers are now owned by those corporations. And we know they don't give a flying fig for quaint notions like consumer trust.

I'm not saying we should all give up and go away. I just think that policial activity alone is not going to save organic food. We need to be more subversive than that, and vote with our forks.

Maybe it's naive to think that our individual actions can do anything. But the collective influence of individual actions has always been the catalyst for change. Horizon Organics (owned by Dean Foods) would get the message, or go out of business if nobody bought their milk. Your local corporate owned super market would suffer if you shopped at the farmer's market and your local economy would benefit. Or you could go vegan and grow your own vegetables. At least sprout some seeds.

To cheer you on in your naive quest for sane, healthy food, here are two recent articles by Michael Pollan, who has his head stuck when it comes to meat-eating, but none-the-less, has astute observations and ideas about the state of our diets. In an excerpt from an interview with Arnie Cooper of the The Sun Magazine, Pollan says, "Families used to control what their members ate and pass along learned wisdom in the form of a food culture. Now that's gone. Most people don't eat as families. We eat individually, going one-on-one with the food supply, which is how the food industry likes it."

'No Bar Codes', article excerpt from the May issue of Mother Jones: Michael Pollan visits Polyface Farms, where "an evangelical Virginia farmer (Joel Salatin) says a revolution against industrial agriculture is just down the road." I have to warn you that Polyface farms is all about pasture raised meat. What's interesting is the philosophy of agriculture, which Joel Salatin successfully practises on his family farm.

And finally, back to theVeggie Revolution, by Sally and Sara Kate Kneidel, "a new book about a very old subject, one ignored by most other books on the subject: the connection between vegetarianism, social activism and the environment." Read the Review of Veggie Revolution.

On the political and social activist side, Ronnie Cummins and the OCA are our heroes. Take action now with the OCA, and tell the USDA to back off on lowering standards! And send a donation to the OCA, so they can continue to fight to preserve organic standards!

And let's get naive!