Response: Trust in organic

At Aurora Organic Dairy, we care a great deal about organic agriculture, about the more than 650 dedicated men and women who call Aurora home, and about consumers who have come to trust the many benefits of organic.

Contrary to reports in The Washington Post and Paul Danish’s opinion piece that appeared in the May 25 edition of the Boulder Weekly, [Re: “Big Organic behaving badly (much worse than Monsanto)”]. Aurora Organic Dairy’s cows not only graze on pasture, but we meet and exceed the grazing requirements for organic certification of our milk. We maintain meticulous daily records, which are audited annually and prove the nutrition our cows receive from pasture and other certified organic feed sources.

At our Colorado High Plains farm alone, our pastures annually produce more than 40 million pounds of feed on more than 4,000 acres. We invest significant resources in land and irrigation. Our soil and crop scientists, and other experts, study our pastures and develop annual plans that ensure the sustainability of the land, and the nutrition and health of our cows.

Many facts we provided to The Washington Post were omitted from the story:

• The grazing requirements of the National Organic Program (NOP) are clear and enable national organic production across many different regions. Producers must achieve at least 30 percent dry matter intake from grazing for 120 days or more. We exceed these requirements of the organic pasture rule.

• Organic certifying agents are independent, third-party auditors, accredited by the USDA. To use the USDA organic label on our products, we must satisfy their expectations to certify production in accordance with the rules of the NOP.

• The level of essential fatty acids in milk is not a requirement of organic certification, nor does it prove a dairy farmer’s grazing practices. Such a test is affected by numerous factors, including the type of pasture grasses, climate, other feed inputs and animal genetics. 

• We do not damage our soils or subject our animals to harm from poor nutrition by grazing them when the pastures have been fully grazed. This is also a requirement of the organic rules.

• All organic dairies do not resemble each other and are not managed the same. They vary in scale, climates and pastures. Regardless, to be organic they must meet the regulations and be properly certified.

Regrettably, the reporter declined our invitation to visit our farms, nor did Paul Danish reach out to us to hear our point of view. Had the reporter taken this opportunity, he would have seen the more than 4,000 acres of pastures our herds graze. He would have understood how our cows are moved to and from pasture during the grazing season, and the abundant nutrition our herds receive from pasture would have been obvious. 

At Aurora Organic Dairy, we produce milk under valid organic certifications, which means we provide our cows with feed that is produced without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. We produce our milk without the use of GMOs, antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones. We are committed to our values, which include being a 100 percent organic company and having the highest standards of animal welfare.

This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.