Relentless Inquiry

Using The Meatrix to get the word out about factory farming vs sustainable farming.

The Meatrix 2: Revolting talks about modern feedlot dairy farming, including the practice of raising calves on formula where a primary ingredient is blood byproduct. Sad, but true, if somewhat overdramatized. Recall that grinding up dead sheep for cattle feed is how sheep scrapie ended up as 'mad cow disease'.

What the second film doesn't say, and which I've only recently learned, is that not all organic dairy products are equal, by a long shot. Take a factory-farm, feedlot type dairy, with only a dirt or concrete 'open air' area where cows spend less than 4 hours a day (and massively crowded, too). As long as it uses organic feed and doesn't use RGBH or antibiotics, it qualifies as an Organic dairy. Still the huge open aeration pits for tons of liquid manure, the overcrowding, etc. Cows are raised from calves using the industry-standard unsafe practices, then 'converted' by being fed organic feed for a transition period. Horizon and Aurora are two of the 'organic' dairies using factory-farm methods.

If you want to buy humanely farmed organic dairy products, check out the recent Dairy Scorecard released this past April to the USDA National Organic Standards Board. Cut directly to the scorecard.

Edit: if you're too busy to read the scorecard, and you're in the Bay Area, here's the scoop: Clover Stornetta got a 4 out of 5 cow rating. No higher-rated sources except 500+ miles away. Safeway's 'O' brand, Trader Joe's, and Costco's house brand, were both 1-cow rated 'hidden sources, possibly factory-farmed'. I find that I don't like the taste of the Costco or TJ's milk, even though it's organic, so I found that quite interesting. Alta Dena and Horizon, both owned by Dean Foods, got 1-cow 'ethically challenged' ratings, as did Stremicks– the latter recently having its factory farm investigated for worker abuse. Oy.