Got Milk? WI-based Organic Valley Dips into Factory Farming (Greenies Sell Out, Man!)

Over the past 20 years, Wisconsin-based Organic Valley has grown into the nation's largest organic cooperative, carving out a niche selling milk from small dairy farmers who treat their cows like members of the family.

So imagine the shock within the organic food world when an industry watchdog group recently discovered Organic Valley quietly has been getting some of its milk from a giant Texas dairying operation with more than 5,000 cows.

"Buying milk from this factory farm could potentially be catastrophic to our marketplace reputation," said Darlene Coehoorn, a longtime Organic Valley member from Rosendale, Wis., where she milks 50 cows with her husband, Dan.

Headquartered in La Farge, Organic Valley sells organic dairy and other food products in all 50 states under various labels. It now represents more than 1,200 organic farmers in 34 states, with sales rising to $432 million last year, a three-fold jump since 2003.

With the growth, however, Organic Valley has found it increasingly difficult to meet demand. To be certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farmers cannot use chemicals on their crops or growth hormones or antibiotics in their livestock.

When two small organic dairy operations in Texas went out of business last year, the cooperative was faced with a tough decision: either ship organic milk from the Midwest or buy it from a giant -- albeit local -- producer.

"Sometimes you have to make compromises; that's just the nature of business," said Organic Valley co-founder and CEO George Siemon. "I made the decision to buy the product, and I'm willing to take the heat."

Siemon said Organic Valley managers did visit the 50,000-acre Natural Prairie Dairy operation in Delhart, Texas, and found that, unlike other factory farms, the operation was doing some grazing as opposed to strictly confining cattle to a feedlot.

But the relationship with Natural Prairie Dairy has angered many Organic Valley members, who fear doing business with a mega-farm will ultimately cost Organic Valley customers and hurt the cooperative's hard-earned reputation.

"What I find most objectionable is the fact that some giant dairy that doesn't even qualify for membership in our co-op can get by with the bare minimum of meeting federal organics standards, but family producers are expected to uphold the high standards set forth by Organic Valley," said Coehoorn, who also serves as president of the Midwest Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.

Just how long Organic Valley will continue buying milk from Natural Prairie Dairy remains unclear. In May, Siemon told the co-op's executive committee it would cease buying milk from the Texas dairy effective June 1, but that date has since passed.

Siemon said last week that Organic Valley would continue the relationship in order to ensure it has a milk supplier in Texas, the second-most populous state in the U.S. with 24 million residents. Organic Valley milk is sold there under the Texas Pastures label.

"It's only temporary, but we need to keep the local Texas thing going to ensure we can get enough milk into the plants," he said.

The source of Organic Valley's Texas milk was revealed by Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst with the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, which has generally been a cheerleader for the organics industry.

Cornucopia in the past has come down hard on Dean Foods for buying milk for its Horizon organic line from factory farms. Dean is the nation's largest dairy company with sales of $12 billion last year.

"We've always held Organic Valley in high regard," said Kastel. "But once we discovered that OV was cutting some of the same corners as Dean Foods, we have the ethical responsibility to treat both organizations the same way."

In particular, Kastel criticized Natural Prairie for expanding its herd with year-old heifers raised on conventional, genetically engineered feed and managed with antibiotics and other drugs banned in organics. He said the farm was treading a fine line with its organic certification.

The controversy surrounding factory dairy farms has escalated over the past few years, with the Cornucopia Institute filing a series of formal legal complaints with the USDA over Dean Foods' suppliers in California, Colorado and Texas.

"What Organic Valley is doing is betraying consumer trust," said Kastel. "The problem is there are over 1,000 family farm members whose livelihood depends on their reputation."

Last July, Organic Valley opened a new $17.5 million distribution warehouse in Cashton, an event attended by Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who praised the growth of the state's organic industry. Wisconsin now has more than 800 certified organic farms, up from 422 in 2002.

In total, Wisconsin has about 75,000 farms. The figure includes some 14,000 dairy farms, varying in size from a few dozen cows to over 3,000.

Head hippie is recipient of at least two trust funds.

Also, the article failed to mention that Kastel, another tristafarian, is likely the only member of Cornucopia Institute, he is a grant-monger specializing in taking other people’s grant applications, tacking on $20k in administrative payments for himself and then getting them approved by our compliant Dept. of Ag Marketing Division. He spends his time sailing and is a legacy member of the Racine Yacht Club.He keeps one of his boats on Lake Pepin and races locally at the LaCrosse Sailing Club.

I have heard a local vet describe the health conditions of the organic dairy cows and say that it makes her cry. Organic Valley was importing melamine-laced feed during the period when dogs and cats were dying. It was referenced in one obscure farming publication and the person in charge just said they *had to* and *would wait for things to blow over*.

Then there was the furor over a secret slush fund based on the members assessement per gallon that resulted in the whistleblower, who was an egg producer, being purged from the Board and her husband lost his job managing the egg division. After the whistleblower was gone, Siemons wife began raising organic eggs. The guys at the feed mill say that when they run out of organic feed, they put regular corn in the organic bags. All of this was initially being reported locally until Head Hippie threatened the small town editor with his pet attorneys.

Then there are the illegal Mexican workers and the slave-labor poor hippie farmhands who protest about their conditions, but are unfit for any other job. Not to mention Fair Trade coffee that runs through the Santa Marta, Columbia cartels or the time they all *vacationed* in Venezuela on an aborted business trip to buy bananas from some small tribe. Suffice to say that they were freaked out by the gun violence on the streets of Caracas and the Glocks on the front seat of the Columbia limo, in easy reach of the driver.

These people are all hypocrites and that is the mildest epithet I can use after knowing many of them up close and personal for 35 years. They support Doyle in exchange for the over $5M in state grants (that I am aware of) they have received in the past 20 years.

But eat organic, folks, it will save the planet, ethically.

Wow. Great post.

Why they get away with their “holier than thou” persona is always beyond me. With a little digging, you can see that these people are as “unethical” as they always claim run-of-the-mill Capitalists to be.

Organic is a MARKETING SCAM. Plain and simple. I manage a garden center. You know those GORGEOUS veggies, etc. that you buy at the farm markets from local, “organic” folk? They use more chemicals than ANYONE, in my experience. It’s all about looks and yield. If you want true, organically raised produce, look for the least perfect examples, and the apples with a few worms in them. THOSE items are truly “organic,” LOL!

And the day Government steps in to regulate my laying hens, that day becomes “Butchering Day.” :)

And yet, they deny their dairy cows calcium, an essential nutrient for lactation.

I am interested in the use of chemicals by the Pure Organics (tm). Do tell us more! What do they use? I already know they are hypocrites of the first water.

IMO, they get away with hypocrisy because, like all progressives, they have this compliant media that hypes their used male bovine food. There is such an extensive, self-reinforcing organic industry, people just do not question. They are as capitalist as anyone, but they just act as though they are entitled to act one way and talk another, while lecturing the rest of us. Just like with the climate/carbon crap.

Here’s a good chart as to who owns what in the Food Industry. You’ll be surprised who owns organic labels...the same food companies that the libs tag as “Big Ag” and want to destroy, LOL!

Dorks.

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/features/009/009buyingorganic.html

“Seeds of Change,” which started out as an organic seed company and was a direct competitor to a company I used to work for, sold out to the M&M (Mars) Candy people years ago.

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