USDA Report Indicates That Organic Labeling Fraud Is Increasing

Organic foods sold in the United States must meet the standards of the U.S. organic regulatory system, a system initiated by the organic businesses and the public. You may not remember what it was like before federal organic regulations were in place, but if you do, you'll realize that product labels--and the standards organic farmers and processors follow--are much more reliable now.

Part of the good news about having federal requirements for organic farming and food products is that the organic regulations have built-in features for continuous improvement. For example, farmers must maintain or improve the soil condition—no other regulated system of farming includes such requirements.

This system is working—problems are uncovered and corrected. The certifiers verify that farmers and processors are following the regulations, and the USDA verifies that the certifiers are doing their jobs properly. As a result of these processes, the USDA released reports on certifiers up for renewal as certifiers allowed to verify products for sale in the U.S. Everyone can read what they found. (See: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5071121&acct=AQ...) This level of transparency and accountability is not common in our food system today.

As a result, people can choose organic products with confidence, knowing that products face traceability from the farm to the consumer, and that there is a process in place for verifying that they are truly produced using organic practices.

---Organic Trade Association

The good news is that evidently there is consciousness and a demand for organic food.

Siouxrose

Happy BIrthday Sioux, I'm guessing you saw a beautiful sunset in the gulf just south of you, my BD is Thursday and it's good to see your name and hear your voice.

Everyone Else

Certified Organic Growers are allowed to use chicken manure as fertilizer from chickens that have been injected with antibiotics and given feed that is tainted with herbicides and pesticides. I now muscle test all foods before buying to check for toxicity. Sometimes the non-organics test just fine.

Let's face it, the only way to grow truly organic foods are in a controlled environment such as a greenhouse. Certified Bio-Dynamic Organic Growers only use chicken manure from free range chickens who have not been injected with antibiotics or given feed tainted with herbicides and pesticides.

As we all know, we live in a toxic environment and it's impossible for organic fields to be isolated from wind and rain which transports chemicals and cross-breeds GMO with non-GMO plants.

I cannot imagine how Obama could stop the corporatizing of our food industry. Ron Paul probably could have done something, but his whole campaign was manipulated by the bought and paid for media.

The fight for Liberty lives on. Speaking of ripples visit campaignforliberty.com rallyfortherepublic.com and ronpaul.org for starters.

Siouxrose
I am out in the country so it is easy to get into nature be it woods or a meadow real fast. Ripple now that my MRI came back sort of clean I can start to make some ripples in the pool again. I know how ripples work and I find it is true. I try to help at least one person a day with something, be it open a door, give directions if lost or help at the gym, or go to a friends place and cook them dinner

It was just a few months ago the protective federal gov instituted new rules for meat packers. No tests for mad cow allowed any more and if any are done the first fine is $100,000 and increasing from there.

HOLLOW POINT: Thanks for the advice, but I elect to do both. I ride my bike every day, immerse in spring waters, hang out with deer, listen for owls, watch birds, and often turn my grandson onto the magical world of Nature, the great Goddess's dominion.

You know the idea of the ripple effect? What's to say that something I relate here, or in any number of articles/books I feel compelled to write, doesn't change a life? Lead to someone else picking up a torch?

Everything is about balance. Our bodies are designed with both sympathetic and parasympathetic systems... it's like being active, and then sleeping or taking a rest. NEITHER is the "right path." Taken together, a life can be satisfying, renewing its bearer, and yet passion for purpose is retained. I am a messenger... for me to stop writing would be like a bird that lost its song. Right about now I am getting that vibe to get outside and be renewed by my surroundings. Hope you do likewise.

Nietzsche
Hay wants wrong with some food ( a litte wine) sex ( Dr say it keeps you young and alive and it feels good to) territoriality, ( own a nice chunk of land on a lake and it is mine so stay off) agression, ( not healthy but good to get the heart and blood flowing at times even if it just getting into a game or something) acquisition ( own 2 cars, a motorcycle, camper trailer, enjoy camping building a big fire to cook marshmellows and kill bugs before they bite me. SO what is the problem.

Siouxrose:

There are times you just have to walk away from the computer and look out the window at a sunset or deer cutting across the fields or the sounds of wolves at night. If you live in an area of what ever country you live in and these things that relax you are not available I am sure Wal Mart sells the sights and sounds of the wild on a DVD. Myself or any of us are not going to change a thing by posting the greatest reason in the world to fix things on some web page that the people that are running the show don't even know it exists. Time to kick back and enjoy the things and people that are dearest in your heart.

"Quality Assurance International"

How many lawsuits have filed against this organization? Does anyone know?

NIETZSCHE: On days when I don't feel that my writing is getting anywhere, and I fall into an existential, "What's it all about, Alfie?" And/or identify with Yosarian from "Catch 22," I am remembered how I was driving 75 MPH in a car that went out of control (it was a rental and something was wrong with the steering column) bringing to life a precognitive dream I'd had about 7 months prior. Had the car hit the high way sign maybe 2 inches to the point of contact, I would not be writing.

I thought of other times I felt something like Grace or Divine order, what my Cuban friend describes as "your protection" making sure things went Okay. I have taken many chances for a single white woman traveling through some pretty faraway places, and I've lived financially on the edge all of my adult life but never gone without food or shelter. I do believe Gershwin was right, there is "Someone to watch over me," and it is NOT of this earth. These events happen all the time and we pass them off as coincidence. Because in the West a lot of us are born to relative comfort (I lived below the poverty line for years and still probably have more clothes, art, books, music than lots of past heads of state) our belief systems generally bear witness to a benevolent universal force.

It may be that in Asia where starvation is more rampant, where the impressionable child is apt to see a dead, decaying body along his daily path, beliefs that look at life more in terms of an impersonal life stream (Buddhism) have taken root.

Then there is hard science that demands a materialistic answer, something that will fit into ITS square peg paradigms, when all the great mysteries run in circles, orbit like planets, take shape as life emerging from the rounded womb. Nice talking pal, it's my birthday and nearly time to dress for a nice dinner on the water.

Hi Siouxrose,

These are not thinking minds. They operate on an emotional, not a rational level, and a primitive emotional level at that.

They have abandoned themselves to the lusts of the reptile brain: food, sex, territoriality, aggression, and since they are after all human, endless acquisition.

They are not immoral but amoral. IF we escape the consequences of allowing them power there must be a God somewhere looking after us. The way we have looked after ourselves is evidence of a self destructive instinct.

Any other species so careless about its own welfare would never last eight years, much less the last twenty six long, mindless, winters that we have allowed these PR wizards to jerk us off and keep us asleep.

Organic is Organic is Organic!
Firstly, "organic" should be described and described in a way that the processes of "growing organic" are explained; what is included (chemicals in "natural fertilizers" etc) and what is excluded to be labeled, "organic." You may be surprised!
Second, as long as we "enjoy" a consumer society that destroys our best farm lands, paved over with asphalt and we rely on "globalization" for our food we will be doomed; and so will all others around the world!
We need as citizens to "ever vigilant." That's the only way we will survive as a civilization.
As a retired row crop farmer (I'm 77) I've watched the industry become more "efficient" but utilize more corporate chemical farming methods that destroy the product itself.
Our larger cities used to be surrounded by local farmers, growing, contributing to the local economies and that has all gone down the tubes. We rely too much on major corporations to supply our food supply...and we deride the USDA its regulations, much distorted by lobbyists and corrupt politicians.
We can't go back to those days but we can pay attention to what those corrupt corporations/politicians are doing...That's our responsibility.
Start by re-registering "non-partisan" for elections.
Then vote all the idiots out of office.
That's a start to building a better society.

Wait a minute, here...

Is there anybody, commenting here, that is refusing the kool-aid? C'mon, fessup, you treasonous, organic pot smokers! We all know you get the munchies! So where did you hide the organic squash bread, or carrot bread or Social Security bread, or whatever...organic, smorganic!?!

Where's my California pizza? Urp...

But, Mrs. Teacher, my dog ate my organic squash...

It's true, my dog get's the fruit of my garden, because she is faster than me out the door. So
I have to go to 'Name Brand Organic' stores to feed my lead poisoned children.

Love,

Preznut Bush (Laura)
:)

Thaddeus S
Hay I just said trust what you put in the ground yourself. Now I know millions of people can't grow all they need but if you can then do it. Turn half the backyard into garden than cutting the grass and putting out for pickup. OR as others have added go to a trusted local farmers market you know.
One thing I will add right now if we are doing it right why are things like cancer rates going up every year? Something is wrong so if you can make the change.

About "cage free eggs": You may want to call the company that you are getting your eggs from as most likely you will find that the hens are living with only 1 square foot of space with another square foot "weather permitting" when they are able to go outdoors. I am very familiar with these big "hen houses" and they are no better than cages, in fact they may be worse.

In truth you need to either stop eating eggs and chicken or find a local farm source, or raise your own.

Thanks for info on the petition.

I don't see anything wrong with Hollow Point's and Thomas Paine's short comments way up top. We need verification standards. I don't implicitly trust the government to do no harm to anyone. Actually knowing your farmer, and your whole community knowing the farmer, is a fairly incorruptible verification system that gets around the government's interference.

The article points out an important problem in identifying organic farmers, many of whom try to reach markets beyond their own locality.

So the comments of Hollow point and Thomas Paine are hypocritical in the worst way. If we were all self sufficient, as they suggest, in every aspect of our lives, why would there be a need for society?
And Culture?

We could all move back to the trees and beyond and be happy again.
The fact is, in all areas of our lives we depend on knowing the integrity of another person who must supply us with resources we ourselves cannot supply. Even pioneers during the 17th and 18th century relied on third parties for
wagon wheels
looms,
food,
canning jars,
etc.

The Indian culture the early pioneers moved through was also based on trusting the integrity of third parties and those societies had methods of dealing with a falsely perpetrated mask of integrity.

How would the Hollow point and Thomas Paine go about suppling
electricity,
transportation,
mail delivery
medical care
formal education at the higher levels
from something they pulled up out of their yards?

I say "shame on you" Hollow point and Thomas Paine for your hollow comments.

I insist that we only use eggs from free range chickens, but I saw inside the pack the words "No added antibotics". WTF? I presume they did not mean to the eggs! I emailed them and the story is that they are apparently so concerned about their chickens that when the birds get sick they take give them antibiotics, and when they are well again and the antibiotics are out of their system, they use the eggs. Of course, that was it. How silly of me to even suspect...

We don't use those eggs any more.

webwalk and others; You have made excellant points and is exactly what needs to happen. Just as FDR campaigned on a moderate level but later told the progressives in those times to "make me" do the right thing, it will take all the progressives acting together to make this and the next president do the right thing. And just as the Clinton administration had to finally remove those atrocitiies as part of the NOP so too will it take vigilence by the OCA, Cornucopia and others to watch the watchdogs so to speak.

At least with an Obama administration there is some hope the corporatists will have to take a back seat in these regards.

This "NAIS" requirement reminds me of the new law pertaining to "eminent domain." EVERY liberty we have thought to be ours, from home ownership to voting to free speech, along with right to assembly, presumption of innocence (an oxymoron in a nation under virtual lockdown to a high surveillance infrastructure), freedom from unnecessary searches/seizure... it's all being obliterated through a massive machine that follows Orwellian operational instructions. It's all so seeming impossible from the tasers to the complicit media, to the exposed LIES that led to a false war (and little response in those sectors that are capable of making one)... like consensual reality itself disappearing in favor of a bad dream. Was it Rumsfeld (?) who said we'll be making our own reality... some quote to the effect that historians would study it. "How can thinking minds think so wrongly."

Here's the content of the on-line petition:

******************************************
Petition to the National Organic Program,

We, the undersigned, are calling on the National Organic Program (NOP) to implement the Peer Review Panel.

After 40 years of hard work, the U.S. organic community has built up a healthy, sustainable, and equitable multi-billion dollar alternative to energy and chemical-intensive industrial agriculture. Now a number of large so-called "organic" corporations and foreign importers, aided and abetted by unscrupulous certifiers and their sub-contractors, are violating the letter and the spirit of organic integrity, allowing factory farm production and bogus, at times toxic, "organic" imports from countries like China to degrade the "USDA Organic" label.

As you yourselves at the NOP have admitted on your website for the past six years, "The National Organic Standards call for the Administrator of AMS (USDA Agricultural Marketing Service) to appoint members of a Peer Review Panel to evaluate the NOP's adherence to its accreditation procedures and its accreditation decisions." It's time for the USDA National Organic Program to stop dragging its heels and begin the legally required public process to set up an accountable and transparent organic community "Peer Review Panel."

We obviously need this Safeguard Organic Standards Panel more than ever so that can we can start helping the NOP (obviously under funded and understaffed with a meager annual budget to police a giant industry) carry out its important task of monitoring and policing organic producers, importers, and certifiers.
***********************************

Please follow the link in the article at the top, and sign the petition. Thanks.

Also,

Please follow the link in Cummins' article and sign the petition to set up Peer Review Panels to watchdog the NOP. Help, don't hurt, the activists who continue the fight for genuine standards.

DaSparky 2:07 p.m. wrote:

"USDA proposed in it's initial standards to allow sewage sludge to be an organic soil amendment and that radiation of food be certifiable as an organic process. That was under the Clinton Administration! USDA has long been an advocate of industrial agribusiness under the guise of support for family farming."

That is true, but it is also true that popular resistance STOPPED the USDA from calling irradiation and sewage sludge "organic".

What do folks think we should do about our food supply? Hollow point 1:53 p.m. wrote: "ONLY TRUST what your own hands put in the ground and pull out." and Thomas More 2:04 p.m. answered: "Absolutely agreed. You could never be sure unless you know the grower."

So everyone here agrees, you literally cannot trust anything you eat unless you grow it yourself or get it directly from a grower you know personally, AND it is ENTIRELY POINTLESS to attempt to regulate markets to protect consumers by upholding standards?

i disagree. The original NOP of the USDA was created because activists fought long and hard for it. And there are still lots of great activists, like the author of this piece Ronnie Cummins and his pals at the OCA and Cornucopia, who have continued to fight hard for years to resist the dilution of organic standards and uphold the right of people to know what the practices of their farmers are.

So for everyone here who is reflexively trashing the NOP and the entire concept of organic standards: you seriously believe in tossing out the regulation, and leave all consumers to seek out and find personally trusted sources of food? What about all other forms of product regulation? Don't buy an appliance unless you know the person who installed the electronic elements and welded the parts?

Again, i disagree. We need to FIGHT to uphold organic standards, not give up in hopeless cynicism and return to - what? An entirely unregulated market for food?

Seriously, what is the implication of all the comments here? And what are you saying to people like the author Ronnie Cummins, who has spent his life fighting this fight, and who wrote this article not to eliminate regulation and standards, but because he continues to FIGHT LIKE HELL to uphold them?

To clarify, i work in the retail end of the organic food trade, at a co-op grocery that has been certified organic for years, and we stay engaged in this fight. Please, if you propose to dump the NOP, do you seriously propose that everyone only eat what they grow themselves? Can i see a serious alternative proposed? If not, i will remain engaged in the fight for organic standards, and encourage you to do so too.

What do you expect with a Fraud Based Government?
Changing Corporate Sock Puppets in November will not help.
If at first we don't secede then ... vote Green and use E.U. standards.

As long as you continue to support BIG GOVERNMENT, the USDA and FDA will keeping POISONING and FUCKING America to DEATH !

Do a google search on

"corn fed" "grass fed"

and you'll be saddened to find out how BIG GOVERNMENT has been POISONING all of us for the past 50 years !

P.S.: Some Democrats are planning on joining the GOP to support BIG BROTHER against small farmers all the while giving "freedom" to Big Agri ! So much for expecting Democrats to be any better than the GOP !!

http://www.americangrassfed.org/pdf/articles/The%20National%20Animal%20I...

The National Animal Identification System:

What does it mean for producers and consumers of grass-fed products?

The USDA has described the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) as "one of the largest systematic changes ever faced by the livestock industry." The NAIS has the potential to drive many producers out of business, whether for philosophical or practical reasons. For those consumers who wish to buy local, organic, or grass-fed products, the NAIS is likely to raise prices and reduce the range of choices. The only beneficiaries will be technology companies and large industrial-agriculture entities. But if enough people learn about the program and take action, we can protect our right to farm for ourselves and for others.

What is the NAIS?

The concept of an electronic, individual animal identification system that includes every livestock species was developed by large industrial-ag companies and associations, working with technology companies, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2002, the National Institute of Animal Agriculture, a trade organization primarily made up of these entities, took the plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA then established working groups. Not surprisingly, these working groups are dominated by commercial interests. As just one example, Tyson (which produces chicken, pork, and beef products) has three representatives sitting on the Beef Cattle Working Group.

In 2005, the USDA published draft documents. These set out a three-step program:

1. Premises registration: Every property where livestock or poultry are raised, held, or managed will have to be registered with the state government, and that information will be entered into a national database held by the USDA. This includes anyone who owns even one chicken, cow, horse, goat, sheep, pig or other livestock or poultry.

2. Animal identification: There will be two levels of animal identification: individual animal and group or lot identification. Most animals, especially those in pastured operations, would need to be individually identified with a unique 15-digit number. Animals either will be implanted with a microchip or tagged with a radio frequency device, or otherwise physically identified. The tag will have to bear the entire 15-digit number, with the number easily read. For at least some species, radio-frequency identification devices would be required. Group or lot identification is designed to fit the needs of factory confinement farms. It could only be used where groups of animals are managed together from birth to death and not commingled with other animals. The agency has only discussed group identification for swine and poultry producers to date. If animals do not meet the requirements for group identification, they will have to be individually identified.

3. Animal tracking: "Events" in an animal's life would have to be reported to a government-accessible database within 24-hours. The original draft plan and program standards included a long list of event codes, including entries for every time a tag is applied, an animal is moved onto or off the premises, a tag is lost or an animal needs to be re-tagged, an animal is killed or dies, or an animal is missing.

In its November 2006 User Guide instead of using the previously-defined events, the USDA distinguishes between "high risk" and "low risk" events. Unfortunately, the Guide does not provide clear definitions. Moreover, the User Guide notes that high risk events will be the "primary focus," but expressly provides that even low risk events may be reportable under certain circumstances. Ultimately, nothing stops the program's focus from continuously expanding once it is in place. And we now do not any real basis for predicting exactly how many intrusive, expensive reports will be required. A recent USDA publication, entitled the "User Guide," states that USDA does not plan to adopt regulations making the NAIS mandatory at the national level. While this is a welcome development, the issue of the NAIS is far from over. The USDA still contends that the NAIS is important to animal health (discussed more below), and seeks to have every person who owns animals participate in the program. The USDA is continuing to fund state agencies to implement the program. Because the cooperative agreements between USDA and the states are generally based on showing a specified amount of progress, there continues to be significant pressure on the states to either implement mandatory state programs or to use coercive means to "encourage" people to enroll in the program. As cattle owners in Michigan have experienced, a lack of federal regulation is not a barrier to the NAIS – these individuals will be required to have electronic identification on all of their cattle by March 2007, even absent federal regulation or any state statute explicitly adopting NAIS. Indeed, while the User Guide is clearly intended to reassure animal owners about the NAIS, it raises more questions than it answers. In contrast to the specific, detailed 2005 Plan and Program Standards, or even the April 2006 Implementation Guide, the new User Guide is filled with vague statements that have numerous loopholes. Far from indicating the USDA truly intends to change the substance of the program, it appears that USDA is simply trying to deflect criticism of the program while ultimately reaching the same end result. What are the problems with the NAIS? The very first stage, premises registration, raises issues of government intrusion into people's lives. While this type of intrusion poses no concern for corporate interests, people whose farms are their homes and who raise food because they care passionately about the lifestyle often object to government intrusion. For some people, such as the Amish and Mennonites, the objections are based on their religious beliefs. When we reach the second and third stages of the NAIS, animal identification and tracking, practical objections rapidly arise. The USDA still has not done an analysis of the costs of program. When asked, the officials have focused on the cost of the tag alone, usually quoted around $3 each. But that cost is only the beginning. One must consider the equipment necessary for tagging the animals, reading the tags electronically, and filing reports electronically. Whether the owner buys this equipment, or pays another to perform these services, this hardware is not free. The costs of maintaining databases that, in their totality, will far exceed the size of any existing database or database system will be staggering. And then there are the costs in producers' time and the added stress on the animals from additional handling. Since the USDA has not done a cost analysis, the best evidence may be the costs of similar programs overseas. The Australian Beef Association estimated the costs of their electronic tracking program for cattle at between $37 and $40/head for tagging and tracking. A report to the British Parliament on their program estimated their costs at $69/head. Remember that these costs are averages, not the cost to each individual. Due to economies of scale, the costs for small producers are likely to be much higher. And since most of our heritage breeds are maintained by small producers, the NAIS poses a threat to the continued viability of rarer breeds. Large producers face their own challenges, since even $3 per head adds up quickly when you have 1,000 animals! The only winners are the meat packers and confinement operations, who will not have to do individual identification and tracking.
After all of the intrusion, expense, and hassle, yet more concerns remain. How will the USDA use the information? Many farmers have had unfortunate experiences with the USDA's policies for depopulation
already, and many more fear the massive overkilling that occurred in Britain could also occur here. And if the databases are held by private entities, as is currently proposed, what stops these entities from selling the information or using it to control the market? Even if such actions are illegal, it would be difficult (if not impossible) to prove the case. Almost everyone has experienced the misuse of their information by credit card companies, fundraisers, or other entities. Many cow-calf operators have voiced concern about the potential for distribution of the information to companies who would use it to their economic advantage. At a time of weekly reports of lost or stolen data, developing a database with detailed information on every single individual who raises even one livestock animal is deeply troubling. What do we get in return? The sole stated purpose of the NAIS is to identify all premises on which the animals and poultry are located and all animals that have had direct contact with a foreign animal disease or domestic disease of concern within 48 hours of discovery. Despite the scope of the proposed program, the government has not conducted any scientific studies or epidemiological models to analyze the design or effectiveness of the NAIS. Rather, the USDA has relied on generalized statements that NAIS is necessary to protect the United States against an outbreak of animal disease and that it will help the export market. But what will the NAIS actually accomplish? We already have trace-back mechanisms. In brand states, the trace-back ability is already excellent. In other states, minor changes to existing programs could meet the need for monitoring animal health. The NAIS is more about marketing than it is about animal health. Foreign markets seek trace-back for consumer confidence. Yet the proponents of the NAIS ignore that the US is a net importer of food. A program to benefit the export market will benefit a handful of companies, not the general economy. And markets should be addressed with market methods, not by spending tax dollars on coercive government programs. Moreover, many producers and consumers of grass-fed products already have the ultimate trace-back system: direct farm-to-consumer sales. And when it comes to grass-fed meats and organic foods, domestic demand dramatically outstrips supply. Consumer confidence is developed through the relationship between the farmer and the consumer, not a USDA program. So most grass-fed producers will bear the costs of the NAIS program without getting any benefit at all from the market aspects. What does this mean for consumers? The NAIS will impact even those Americans who buy their food at the grocery store, through increased taxes funding a larger government bureaucracy. But consumers of grass-fed or organic products will face a far greater and more direct impact. If the NAIS is implemented, the producers of pastured meats will face increased government intrusion, added expenses, and more work, on top of the already labor-intensive methods for raising healthy food. Many will go out of business, whether for philosophical or practical reasons. Those that remain will be forced to raise their prices to survive. Given that demand already outstrips supply, many consumers will have no option but to buy the mass-produced foods produced by corporate confinement operations. What can be done?
The NAIS will impact all of us, and everyone should read the government documents for themselves. You can find the most recent documents on the USDA website, at www.usda.gov/nais, and the earlier documents are
available at www.libertyark.net. Read them carefully, looking beyond the reassurances to the real substance of the program. And then decide if you want to see the NAIS implemented in your state.
If you are opposed to the NAIS, then urge your Congressman to investigate how the USDA is promoting the program. The new head of the House Agriculture Committee has called for hearings to look into how USDA has handled the program, so we have an important opportunity right now. After the USDA's recent announcement that NAIS will be voluntary at the national level, we also have an improved opportunity to stop this program at the state level. Call and write your state legislators, urging them to oppose NAIS. You can find sample letters and information on how to contact your legislators at www.farmandranchfreedom.org or www.libertyark.net, along with other tools to help you educate your friends and neighbors and take action.
By Judith McGeary[1]
[1] Judith McGeary is an attorney in Austin, Texas, and the Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. She has a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University and a J.D. with high honors from The University of Texas at Austin. She began her legal career by clerking for the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Since then, her practice has focused on environmental law, commercial litigation, and appeals. She and her husband run a small pasture-based farm with horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry. For more information, go to www.farmandranchfreedom.org or call 1-866-687-6452.

Corporate control of the USA government will always undercut the citizens. Vote the bastards out! Let Obama and McCain know we are coming for them. This bullshit is OVER.

If anybody should know about fraud it is the USDA.

Has anybody else noticed how mad cow disease has become a non issue?

What do you want to bet people are eating beef from infected cattle? And mad cow may be a minor hazard compared to some other diseases.

"No new cases of mad cow have been discovered"---You can't detect what you don't test for.

Wow. How surprising that something involving the US government would turn out to involve fraud.

I am an organic farmer from North Dakota. It must be noted that USDA proposed in it's initial standards to allow sewage sludge to be an organic soil amendment and that radiation of food be certifiable as an organic process. That was under the Clinton Administration! USDA has long been an advocate of industrial agribusiness under the guise of support for family farming. It was inevitable from the start of the NOP that without regulation the "I'll write you a certificate if you'll write me a check" certifying companies would beguiin to dominate the market. After all if those companies do not have to check for compliance all they have to do is capture more of 'the certification market'!

Hollow point August 8th, 2008 1:53 pm

Absolutely agreed. You could never be sure unless you know the grower.

ONLY TRUST what your own hands put in the ground and pull out. The extra cost of so called Organic just is not worth it.