Farmers: Organic livestock regs 'to take a step backward'

摘要

The Department of Agriculture won't move quickly — if at all — to resurrect standards for organic livestock production it withdrew during the Trump administration. Members of the Real Organic Project — a group devoted to blocking organic certification for large confined livestock operations — said that downbeat message came from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in an otherwise positive virtual meeting last week about the industry's priorities. "He was very clear that they were going to have to take a step backward," said Dave Chapman, a farmer in East Thetford, Vt., and chairman of the Real Organic Project. Chapman told E&E News that Vilsack said he had been convinced by USDA lawyers that a prior economic analysis conducted for the proposal was flawed and would need to be started over. "It certainly meant it's not going to happen quickly," Chapman said.