Federal judges on the east and west coasts have rebuffed the USDA and are allowing lawsuits to proceed against the Trump administration’s dismissal of animal welfare standards for organic farms, a regulation that was in the works for years. The Organic Trade Association (OTA) says that by delaying and then withdrawing the livestock rule, the government “engaged in a pattern of misconduct that can only be corrected by a federal court.”
U.S. district judge Rosemary Collyer in the District of Columbia denied last week a USDA petition to dismiss the OTA lawsuit and granted the trade group’s request for oral arguments, with the date to be determined later, reported Capital Press. Her decision came six weeks after U.S. Judge Richard Seeborg, in San Francisco, rejected USDA’s attempt to quash a similar lawsuit filed by other groups and cleared the way to trial for it.
The USDA spent more than a decade in developing the organic livestock rule, only to announce in March that it lacked the authority to issue such regulation. The rule effectively would end the practice of confining egg-laying hens in small “battery cages” and require group housing of hogs, measures that had been opposed by the conventional livestock industry. If implemented, the standards would draw a contrast in the marketplace between organic products and those from large-scale conventional 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 and which have been criticized as inhumane.
“We are delighted the court has agreed to hold a hearing despite the USDA’s objections. Our case is moving forward,” said OTA chief executive Laura Batcha. “Consumers trust that the (USDA Certified) Organic seal represents meaningful differences in the production of crops and the raising of animals, and any shaking of that trust harms organic producers and businesses.”
The OTA filed its lawsuit in September 2017 after repeated delays by the USDA in implementating of the livestock standards. It amended the complaint after USDA withdrew the rule. Its lawsuit says the USDA unlawfully delayed implementation of the livestock rule, failed to consult the National Organic Standards Board about its plan to withdraw the rule and ignored thousands of comments in support of the standards.