On one of the last days before USDA can carry out its plan to kill the organic livestock rule, the organic food movement took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post, asking Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to drop the idea. The USDA announced in mid-December that it lacked statutory authority to implement the rule, which was a decade in the making, and set a 30-day comment period before it would withdraw the regulation.
An array of organic food companies, activist farm groups, consumer groups, environmental groups and animal welfare groups signed an open letter, appearing in the advertisement, in support of the livestock rule. “We implore you to restore the organic welfare standard,” says the letter. “Organic farmers have pioneered new practices to enhance animal welfare because consumers demand it and because it makes farms more resilient and profitable.”
George Siemon, chief executive of Organic Valley, said USDA was kowtowing to “industrial livestock” producers. “We have seen industrial agriculture fight against animal welfare again and again, whether is is cage-free or ending gestation crates.” The Organic Trade Association, which signed the letter, sued USDA in September for repeatedly delaying implementation of the rule.
Issued a year ago by the Obama administration, the organic livestock rule would require farmers to provide outdoor access for their livestock and poultry on all but the coldest or hottest days. It would effectively end the practice of confiining egg-laying hens in small “battery cages” and require group housing of hogs. The standards draw a contrast with large-scale conventional livestock farms, which use battery cages, so-called sow crates and veal-calf stalls that closely confine animals in the name of efficiency and labor savings, but which are viewed as inhumane by animal rights groups and supportive consumers.