Organic Trade Assoc. sues USDA over organic livestock standards
The Organic Trade Assoc. (OTA) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) over its failure to put into effect new organic livestock standards.
The Organic Trade Assoc. (OTA) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) over its failure to put into effect new organic livestock standards. The suit alleges the USDA violated the Organic Foods Production Act and unlawfully delayed the effective date of the final livestock standards that were developed by industry and in accordance with the processes established by Congress. The trade association further contends that Trump Administration’s regulatory freeze order issued to federal agencies on Jan. 20, 2017, should not apply to organic standards because they are voluntary and are required only of those farms and businesses that opt in to be certified organic.
“The government’s failure to move ahead with this fully vetted regulation calls into question the entire process by which organic regulations are set—a process that Congress created, the industry has worked within, and consumers trust,” said Laura Batcha, executive director and CEO of the OTA.
The Organic Livestock and Poultry Production (OLPP) rule, commonly referred to as the Organic Animal Welfare Rule, addresses four broad areas of organic livestock and poultry practices, including living conditions, animal healthcare, transport, and slaughter. The OLPP represents a refinement and clarification of a series of organic animal welfare recommendations incorporated into the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which established the federal regulations overseeing the U.S. organic sector.
The National Organic Program released the final OLPP rule on Jan. 19, 2017, and published it in the Federal Registeron that day. Due to a White House Memorandum to federal agencies released on Jan. 20, 2017, requesting a regulatory freeze on rules recently published or pending, the effective date of the rule was delayed to May 19, 2017.
On May 10, the USDA delayed the effective date again by an additional six months to Nov. 14, 2017, and opened a 30-day comment period asking for responses to four possible options for the final rule, which included suspending it indefinitely, delaying it again, and withdrawing it. More than 47,000 comments were received during the 30-day comment period, with 99% of those comments in support of the rule becoming effective as written without further delays on November 14.
In the lawsuit, the OTA Organic Trade Association asks the court to reverse the agency’s decisions to delay and eliminate options proposed by the USDA to further delay, rewrite, or permanently shelve the rule—thereby making the final livestock rule effective immediately, as written.