Cornucopia Institute Renews Charges About Aurora Dairy Organic Practices
The Cornucopia Institute, which represents the interests of small organic agricultural operations, has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate charges that Aurora Dairy’s High Plains facility is operating in violation of National Organic Program (NOP) standards. In its August 31, 2009, letter, the institute refers to a similar complaint it filed about Aurora Dairy in 2007. According to the letter, the agency assured the institute that the 2007 complaint “would be incorporated into the probation that Aurora Dairy was operating under, pursuant to a consent agreement signed with the Department. Based on freedom of information documents, obtained by The Cornucopia Institute, no scrutiny of this facility ever took place and the allegations we communicated in 2007 were never investigated.”
The letter outlines how Aurora Dairy has allegedly fallen short of NOP requirements and specifically points to the planting of an annual forage crop in the animals’ pasture, which meant that for a number of weeks in prime grazing season no pasture was available for Aurora’s milk cows. According to the institute, “[t]he regulations clearly call for cows to have access to pasture.” The letter notes that much of the forage crop was brown when inspected in 2007, and would have burned out “in the coming 100 [degree] heat. Certainly before July 2007 that would have left most of the fields that were designated as ‘pasture’ devoid of vegetation that would meet the legal definition in the NOP standards. The situation in 2009 is reported to be very similar.”
The Cornucopia Institute also requests that the USDA evaluate and assess both entities certifying Aurora Dairy’s operation—Colorado’s Department of Agriculture and Quality Assurance International. Aurora Dairy has reportedly responded that the charges are “without merit.” According to a company spokesperson, “They are false claims that have never proven out. This is basically the same complaint as in 2007 and USDA has declined to investigate.” The company never lost its organic certification after previous complaints found 14 alleged violations of NOP rules and culminated in an agreement that the company would reduce its herd and provide its animals with daily access to pasture during the growing season. See FoodNavigator-USA.com, September 1, 2009.
