After years of development, the USDA proposed stronger housing and welfare rules for organic livestock that include group housing for swine and year-round access for poultry to the outdoors. The proposal would not count porches as outdoor space, ending a controversial and longstanding practice. Poultry barns and yards “must be designed to promote and encourage all birds to go outside on a daily basis,” said USDA official Miles McEvoy during a tele-conference. “Outdoors areas must have suitable enrichment to entice birds to go outside.”
USDA unveiled the proposal on its website and said there would be a 60-day comment period after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected soon.
“The proposed rule is guaranteed to make all segments of the poultry industry unhappy,” said the Cornucopia Institute, an advocacy group in sustainable and organic agriculture. “It will eventually outlaw the confinement style of egg production that is producing as much as 90 percent of organic eggs today. It clearly outlaws small porches which factory farms have been substituting for legitimate outdoor access.” But Cornucopia said the proposed regulation offers scant space for poultry and implementation would take a minimum of five years.
McEvoy, assistant administrator of the National Organic Program, said the animal welfare rule would align operations on organic farms “with consumer expectations, especially regarding outdoor access for poultry.” The Humane Society of the United States pointed to provisions that prohibit tail-docking of pigs and cattle and debeaking of poultry and that set minimum amount of space indoors and outdoors for egg-laying hens. “The Obama administration’s move today demonstrates the changing social consensus on animals among consumers who are increasingly concerned about farm animal welfare,” said HSUS president Wayne Pacelle.
For poultry, farms would be required to provide year-round access to outdoors areas that are at least 50 percent soil, offer clean water for drinking and sunlight or shade. “All of the birds in a poultry house must be able to access the outdoors within a single hour,” said McEvoy. Doors must be wide enough for two birds to pass through them at a time.
Group housing would be the standard for swine except for boars. Indoors or out, exercise areas must permit rooting, a natural activity, just as poultry would be given the opportunity for dust bathing whether indoors or out. Bird would have at least two square feet of space indoors and outside.
If 50 percent of outdoor space for poultry is “soil-based,” it means concrete or gravel can cover the rest, said Cornucopia. It said poultry would be unduly crowded in the space USDA proposed.
USDA said its proposal meant livestock must be given space to stand up, turn around, fully extend their limb and lie down when they are indoors. The description is similar to the standard sought by animal rights groups.
The Organic Trade Association, the largest trade group in the industry, said it “supports the process to strengthen and improve organic animal welfare standards.”
All of the animal welfare rules would become effective a year after a final rule is issued, except for the outdoor space regulation for poultry, said USDA. New poultry operations and new poultry barns would have three three years to comply and all other certified organic poultry operations would have to comply within five years.