The Organic Trade Association and its allies in Congress are pushing to finalize an Obama-era rule that would help dairy producers to transition animals into organic production only once.
The department announced in September that it was reopening the comment period on the 2015 rule. The deadline for comments was Monday.
OTA said in its comments that it "continues to support the Origin of Livestock proposed rule, and urges USDA to move expeditiously to a final rule to clarify and narrow the allowance to transition dairy animals into organic milk production as a one-time event.”
The five co-chairs of the House Organic Caucus — Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.; Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis.; Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.; and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine — submitted a separate letter to USDA in support of the rule. They said the issue is “critical for thousands of organic dairy farmers around the country.”
The House and Senate both included provisions in their 2020 funding bills for USDA that direct the department to finish the rule.
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