Patrick Leahy: “I want to alert you and my fellow Senators to a particularly egregious rider that was included in the omnibus…”

“I want to alert you and my fellow Senators to a particularly egregious rider that was included in the omnibus appropriations conference report. After the conference committee met and behind closed doors, this special interest rider will gut the organic standards just recently enacted by U.S. Department of Agriculture. I understand this special interest provision was inserted into the bill on behalf of a single producer who essentially wants to hijack the ``organic'' certification label for his own purposes. He wants to get a market premium for his products, without actually being an organic product. This provision will allow producers to label their meat and dairy products ``organic'' even though they do not meet the strict criteria set forth by USDA, including the requirement that the animals be fed organically grown feed. This approach was considered and outright rejected by USDA last June. The entire organic industry opposed this weakening of the organic standards. If beef, poultry, pork and dairy producers are able to label their products as ``organic'' without using organic feed, which is one of the primary inputs, then what exactly is organic about the product? This provision is particularly galling because so many producers have already made the commitment to organic production. For most, this is a huge financial commitment on their part.”