Livestock Operation Loses Organic Certification Amid Allegations of Poor Recordkeeping
An administrative law judge recently issued an order suspending a Nebraska-based livestock operation’s organic certification for four years, agreeing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2008 complaint that the company failed to keep and produce adequate records. In Re Promiseland Livestock, LLC, No, 08-0134 (USDA, Nov. 25, 2009). A supplier for Aurora Dairy and other organic farms, Promiseland Livestock, LLC, apparently operates five ranches in Missouri and Nebraska with more than 22,000 head of beef and dairy cattle. The judge concluded that Promiseland “willfully . . . failed to make requested records available” to USDA and denied agency representatives “access to review and copy organic operation records required to determine compliance” with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and National Organic Program regulations.
Promiseland first came under scrutiny when The Cornucopia Institute, an organic watchdog, targeted Aurora Dairy for allegedly “illegal” operations, according to a recent press release issued by the organization. “It appears that it was the investigation into improprieties by Aurora that finally led to the hammer coming down on Promiseland,” stated a spokesperson for Cornucopia, which has vowed to continue pursuing legal action against both Aurora and Quality Assurance International (QAI), the organic certifier for Promiseland.
In addition, Cornucopia has publicly faulted former USDA officials for purportedly blocking its investigation requests “for political reasons.” “From formal legal complaints that we filed, Bush administration officials at the USDA were alerted, starting in January 2005, to the alleged improprieties by massive factory farms masquerading as organic,” the group’s research director was quoted as saying. “This is not the first time QAI has been suspected of incompetence or improperly accommodating corporate agribusiness.” See Cornucopia Institute Press Release, December 2, 2009.
