the term ORGANIC

[RHRanch]

Quote:
The National Organic Plan allows you to treat sick animals, it would be inhumane to withhold treatment. Once they are treated they are not eligible for organic production and must be sold or otherwise moved to conventional production.

Selling is culling.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Yes, it is. In this instance I took it to mean putting the animal down.

 

[chickened]

Can you not do this without government help? I could so why involve them for any other reason but to gain market share. Buy more land or work together with other private folks that are like-minded but leave the government out or you will be regulated to death eventually just like big Ag, unless of course you want to be regulated. Here in Oregon small organic farmers are buying land in the middle of big ag land and then whine about pesticide use and attempt to use the very same government to kill big Ag so tell me the difference.
Quote:
I don't know about strongarm tactics... but once again what do think farming is? I am in it for the money... I don't keep a few thousand hens around and pack up hundreds of thousands of eggs a year for free. Farming is a for profit endeavor. If our farmer-owned cooperative gets more of a market share from "Big Ag", it suits me just fine, as it supports me and my neighbors. These small farms would have been long gone save for organic production and marketing.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I'm not sure how "government help" gains market share. Market share is gained by convincing the consumer to buy your product over another's. It's all in the marketing.

Where conflicting interests and money is involved there will always be regulation. The USDA National Organic Program moved U.S. organic production into the mainstream. What were once niche sales at the farmers' market are now a multi-billion dollar industry. Along with that comes increasing regulation. Yet, for what the National Organic Program encompasses I don't think that the regulations are all that prescriptive. Typical language is "Animals must have access to the outdoors, weather permitting". That is very open to interpretation. Some would like to see more prescriptive rules to level the playing field. "This is exactly how organic production will be done". There are too many variables involved though; different types of production, different climates, different disease pressures. A certain amount of regulation is necessary though... When product claims and labeling are involved the consumers demand it.

 

[chickened]

I will give you an example. An organic group gives money to an animal rights group they in turn pressure the legislature to say pass a bill that makes say egg producers to give chickens exercise room. This forces mass produced eggs to raise their costs so now the cost of those mass produced cheaper eggs are now closer to the organic eggs and so now cost is not prohibitive to buy organic eggs because the organic egg producer forced the cheaper mass produced egg people to raise their price. That is how it works.