Organic Trade Association statement on Capitol Hill efforts to block USDA adoption of organic animal welfare standards

Efforts on Capitol Hill to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from adopting critical regulations to update key organic animal welfare provisions are a blatant attack on organic. The Organic Trade Association is launching an all-out effort to fight this attack. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) has introduced an amendment to the Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill to effectively block USDA from moving forward with the nearly finalized Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards. This follows a similar amendment offered earlier on the House side by Cong. Keith Self, (R-TX). The action by these lawmakers is unjust and unwarranted and represents a broader attempt to dismantle the National Organic Program. The OLPS regulations have been under discussion and review for over twenty years and are widely supported by the organic sector and the public at large. Adoption of these amendments would set a dangerous precedent for organic rule-making and threaten the future of organic.