Object to USDA Corruption & Phony “Animal Welfare” Rule
It Will Permanently Institutionalize Factory Conditions for Organic Poultry
Even if, through guidance from our local chapters, we have food that could legitimately be called “beyond organic,” we still need to take a stand against corporate agribusiness corrupting the USDA organic label. Whether it’s rice, bananas, or rations from local feed elevators that our farmers are buying to raise our eggs and chickens, it’s imperative that we alert the political appointees in Washington running the USDA.
The proposed animal welfare rule will legalize the violations that are currently taking place. For laying hens, that means as many as 200,000 birds in a building, packed wall-to-wall and in floor-to-ceiling aviary systems, unable to reach the outdoors. It’s a horrendous life for the birds and, as WAPF members know, defrauds eaters out of nutritionally superior eggs and meat.
ACTION TO TAKE
Please make your voice heard by printing and signing your proxy-letter: https://organiceye.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Proxy-Letter-SEP2022.pdf
Mail it back to our allies at OrganicEye, the preeminent organic industry watchdog:
OrganicEye
PO Box 8
La Farge, WI 54639
OrganicEye will have your letter delivered to President Joe Biden asking him to intervene to end the unseemly relationship between USDA Secretary Vilsack and corporate agribusiness lobbyists. The days of corruption at the USDA’s National Organic Program have to end.
A contribution in support of OrganicEye’s work would be welcome but they emphasize that it is entirely optional.
FURTHER INFORMATION
- The existing laws mandating access to the outdoors for all livestock, pasture for ruminants, and soil-based fruit and vegetable production are not being enforced.
- The pending draft rulemaking will codify the abuses currently taking place on industrial-scale “farms” producing “organic” eggs and meat birds. The proposal would only afford one to two square feet per animal indoors or outdoors. And 50 percent of the space outdoors can be covered with concrete or gravel! These anemic requirements depriving the birds of the opportunity to express their natural instinctual behaviors, which is required by law, are coupled with a rule allowing exclusive confinement for the first 21 weeks of the laying hen’s life.
- A new approach needs to be developed as an alternative to the tens of millions of dollars currently spent on annual inspections. The vast preponderance of documented fraud—what we assume is only the tip of the iceberg—is being discovered by OrganicEye and others outside of the certification/inspection process. Resources should be focused on hiring experienced agriculturalists/forensic accountants for more comprehensive/periodic audits (punctuated with frequent unannounced inspections and testing).
- The department needs to prioritize listening to organizations representing consumers, rather than corporate lobbyists who have been appointed to key leadership positions at the USDA and on the National Organic Standards Board.
If you’d like to drill down further, please read OrganicEye’s formal comments on the pending draft rule.
Please print and return your proxy letter today. You are welcome to add additional custom comments on the back. Your efforts will support the ethical farmers we all respect, who are being competitively injured by the current system that allows food to be illegally labeled as “organic.”
Please help the Weston A. Price Foundation restore nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. westonaprice.org
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