Not All Organic Milk Is Created Equal–Best and Worst Organic Dairies

Not all organic milk is created equal so we’ve learned from a recent report from the Cornucopia Institute. From best to worst organic dairies it’s clear that the mission of organic can vary from brand to brand. Popularity can be problematic. Once people start catching on to an idea or practice and popularity sets in, companies roll in to capture a piece of the pie. And this isn’t always bad, but it can be problematic in the organic industry when the mission of the certification gets sidelined. Based on the report, it seems like some organic dairies are not valuing the mission of the certification and what it stands for. Are these companies just in it for the money? It’s hard to say, but there’s certainly a conflict that arises here. You’ve trusted Mamavation to bring you topics like best and worst ice creams, best and worst protein powders, and benefits of grassfed organic cheese, now join us as we bring you the best and worst organic dairies.

Why Organic Dairy Practices Differ From Brand to Brand

Organic dairy farms differ across the United States. They differ in size and farming practices. And this is a challenge for the industry. One one hand, we want the masses to have access to healthier food options which often means making them available in every neighborhood grocery store and mega mart around the country. On the other hand, with the majority of our nation comprised of middle and working class folks, it’s also crucial that healthier food options be affordable. Both of these scenarios create giant-corporation-sized gaps perfectly suited for Big Business solutions that address massive consumer demand for products at affordable prices. Unfortunately, these enterprises sometimes adulterate the process to save money, and find every loophole there is to skirt regulations which then translates into diminished product quality. There are also problems when smaller operations who follow the mission of the organic certification get squeezed out by corporate agribusiness. That’s why we need independent and trustworthy organizations like The Cornucopia Institute to do the difficult work of researching and verifying information that’s often heavily guarded. This year The Cornucopia Institute released a report that evaluated most of the organic dairies in the United States and ranked them based on their farming practices.

The Cornucopia Institutes releases this information to give the consumer more power to correct the market. In essence, they give you the information to vote with your dollar. In a perfect world, we’d all buy the best food from the most ethical farmers with the highest locality. At the very least, we should make effort to purchase from brands complying with minimum USDA standards that naturally benefit the animals in their care and smaller business owners around the country. And if you decide to do that by buying more from the good guys and less from the bad guys, the market will correct itself automatically.

The Cornucopia Institute Organic Dairy Scorecard

The Cornucopia Institute reviewed the practices of 169 organic dairies in the United States, and placed them into 5 categories ranging from “one cow” (poor) to “five cows” (exemplary) based on their milk production or procurement practices determined by the following criteria:

• 19-question survey developed with the input of industry experts
• unannounced site inspections
• aerial photography
• satellite imagery
• examination of regulatory documents
• extensive industry interviews

The private-label brands choosing not to participate in the survey received a rating of one or two cows based on industry sources and federal records regarding their procurement processes. The top-rated brands are going well beyond the minimum legal requirements for organic certification set by the USDA. Out of 169 brands, only 85 were willingly transparent through the research process. The other 84 were not willing to participate in any way.

Top Rated – Beyond Organic (5 Cow Rating) – 32 dairies

This category of producers represents the gold standard in dairy production. Producers in this top tier manage diverse, small to medium scale family farms. They emphasize well-managed pasture. Pasture and other forage make up the majority of their animals’ feed.

These brands generally sell locally or regionally under their farm’s name, mostly through farmers markets, food cooperatives, and independently owned food stores. Many of these brands also grow most of their own feed. The majority practice superior use of manure as fertilizer and naturally control crop pests and weeds through rotations and cover crops. These brands also have “closed herds”—raising their own replacements from the young animals born on the farm. Top-rated producers deserve accolades for going beyond organic. Some long-time practitioners would argue that this is the essence of true organic farming.

• Paradise Springs Farm
• SpringWood Organic Farm
• Berle Farm
• Radiance Dairy
• Pride and Joy Dairy
• Hawthorne Valley Farm
• Dutch Meadows Farm
• Working Cows Dairy
• The Family Cow
• Alpine Heritage Creamery
• Coonridge Organic Goat Dairy
• Seven Stars Farm
• Lifeline Farm Victor
• Engelbert Farms
• Organic Pastures Dairy Company
• Burroughs Family Farms (Full Circle Dairy)
• Meant To Be Natural Food
• The Milkhouse
• Chase Hill Farm
• Camphill Village Kimberton Hills Dairy
• Butterworks Farm
• Amaltheia Organic Dairy
• Strafford Organic Creamery
• Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms
• Nature’s One
• Maple Hill Creamery
• Thistle Hill Farm (Tarentaise Cheese)
• Crystal Ball Farm
• Saint Benoit Creamery
• Trimona Yogurt
• Rumiano Cheese Company
• Tide Mill Creamery (Tide Mill Organic Farm)

Excellent – Commitment to grazing (4 Cow Rating) – 36 dairies

Producers in this category provide ample pasture for their animals and make a credible effort to encourage natural behaviors. These brands may get milk or feed from outside sources that are certified organic. If multiple farms produce the milk for a brand, the management has close oversight and control over the practices of those farms. Dairy products from these brands come from animals that have been raised organically, at least since the last third of gestation, even if animals were purchased off-farm.

• Castle Rock Farms
• Trickling Springs Creamery
• Evans Farmhouse Creamery (Sunrise Family Farms)
• Sunrise Family Farms
• Naturi
• Grassmilk (Organic Valley)
• Oasis at Bird in Hand
• Kimball Brook Farm (Green Mountain Organic Creamery)
• Natural By Nature (Natural Dairy Products Corp)
• B’More Organic
• PCC Community Markets
• Fresh Breeze Dairy
• Stonyfield Farms (Lactalis)
• Organic Valley (CROPP)
• Kalona SuperNatural (Farmers Creamery)
• Annie’s Homegrown (General Mills)
• Liberte (General Mills)
• Pure Indian Foods
• Sierra Nevada Cheese Company
• Humboldt Creamery (Foster Farms Dairy)
• Green Valley Organics (Redwood Hill Farm/Emmi Roth)
• Nancy’s (Springfield Creamery)
• Green Field Farms
• Sassy Cow Creamery
• Shaw Family Dairy (New England Organic Creamery)
• Clover Sonoma
• Blue Marble Ice Cream
• Westby Cooperative Creamery
• Helios Kefir (Lifeway)
• Cedar Grove Cheese
• Good Culture
• Amish Country Farms
• White Mountain Foods
• Smari Organics
• Trader’s Point Creamery
• Organic Creamery (DCI Cheese/Saputo Specialty Cheese)

Very Good – Complying with minimum USDA standards (3 Cow Rating) – 17 dairies

Brands with a 3-cow rating are meeting the standards to qualify for legal organic status. Many are good choices for consumers. All producers in this category appear committed to meeting at least the minimum pasture requirement. In this category, replacement animals may be purchased from outside sources, sometimes from conventional management where calves have received antibiotics and young cattle might have been fed conventional and/or GMO grains.

• Upstate Farms (Upstate Niagara Coop)
• Nature’s Touch (Kwik Trip)
• Julie’s Organic (Oregon Ice Cream)
• Alden’s Ice Cream (Oregon Ice Cream)
• Cowgirl Creamery (Emmi Roth USA/Emmi Group)
• Alpenrose
• Harvest Farms (Ingles Markets)
• 365 Organic (Whole Foods)
• Stremicks Heritage Foods
• Straus Family Creamery
• Wegmans
• Glanbia Foods
• Perry’s Ice Cream
• Wallaby (Whitewave Foods)
• Three Twins Ice Cream
• Earth’s Best (Hain Celestial)
• Sunnyside Farms Dairy (Save Mart/Super Store Industries)

Fair – Compliance with federal standards is not clear (2 Cow Rating) – 6 dairies

These brands represent industrial-scale operations or others with outstanding questions regarding their compliance with USDA organic regulations. Private-label dairy products often fall into this category because they may be getting all, or some, of their milk from factory-farm sources. These brands may have a lack of control over their milk supply due to reduced oversight at the farms that supply their milk. None of the 2-cow rated brands was willing to participate in Cornucopia’s research.

• Sky Top Farms
• Yami Yogurt (Auburn Dairy Products, Inc.)
• Boulder Ice Cream
• Greenwise (Publix)
• New Seasons Market
• Shoprite

Poor – Industrial organics (1 Cow Rating) – 33 dairies

Brands with a 1-cow rating generally depend on industrial-scale dairy operations, some milking thousands of cows each, that almost universally skirt or misrepresent the pasture requirements. No producers in this category were willing to participate in Cornucopia’s study. Transparency is a hallmark of the organic food movement, and Cornucopia believes it is essential that producers remain open with their customers to maintain the confidence consumers have in the organic seal. At a minimum, these operations are not following the spirit of the organic label. Generally, private-label products fall into this category because of their lack of transparency and the fact that most get some of their milk from factory-farm sources.

Where Cornucopia’s investigation has found that producers may not be meeting the federally set minimum requirements for pasturing—allowing animals to exhibit their natural behaviors or other elements of the organic requirements—a 1-cow rating has been applied. We have shared what information we have available on these operations and, when appropriate, have filed formal legal complaints with the USDA.

• Meijer Organics (Meijer)
• Simply Nature (Aldi)
• Cadia (KeHE)
• MOM’s Organic Market
• Nature’s Promise (GiantFood, a subsidiary of Ahold)
• Kirkland Signature (Costco)
• Winn Dixie Organics (Bi-Lo)
• Natural Directions (Unified Grocers)
• Market Basket (DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc)
• Stew Leonard’s
• Simple Truth (Kroger)
• Friendly Farms (Aldi)
• Hy Vee
• Simply Balanced (Target)
• Roundy’s
• Trader Joe’s
• Earth Fare
• HEB Organics (HEB Grocery Company/Central Market)
• Harris Teeter Organics (Kroger)
• Wellsley Farms (BJ’s Wholesale Club)
• Nature’s Place (Hannaford)
• Great Value Food (Walmart)
• O Organics (Safeway)
• Nature’s Basket (Giant Eagle)
• Woodstock (UNFI)
• Central Market (HEB Organics)
• Wild Harvest (Albertson’s)
• Clearly Organic (Associated Wholesale Grocers)
• Full Circle (Topco)
• Sprout’s
• Western Family
• Nature’s Best
• Fairway

Very Poor (0 Cow Rating) – 45 dairies

No producers in this category were willing to participate in Cornucopia’s research. Transparency is a hallmark of the organic food movement, and Cornucopia believes it is essential that producers remain open with their customers to maintain the confidence consumers have in the organic seal.

• Horizon (DanoneWave)
• Olympus Dairy
• Swissland Cheese Company
• Honest Infant Formula (Honest Company)
• Grassland
• Galbani (Lactalis American Group)
• Double Rainbow
• Applegate Farms (Hormel)
• Spring Hill Cheese (Petaluma Creamery)
• Similac (Abbott Laboratories)
• High Meadow (Aurora Dairy)
• County Line Farms
• Hiland Dairy
• Challenge Dairy Products
• Latta (Latta USA)
• Cocoa Metro
• Steckler Grassfed
• Mama Sattva
• Rockview Farms Organic Milk (Rockview Farms)
• Umpqua Dairy
• Byrne Dairy
• Voskos (Sun Valley Dairy)
• McCluskey Brothers at Shillelagh Glen Farms
• Happy Family (Groupe Danone)
• Smith Brothers Farms
• Samish Bay Cheese Farm
• Roth Organics (Emmi Roth)
• Verka
• Wholesome Valley (Galaxy Foods)
• Yoatz (Facci Food Company)
• Perrigo Nutritionals (PBM Nutritionals)
• Champlain Valley Dairy
• Rogue Creamery
• Sunrise Yogurt
• Kemps (Dairy Farmers of America)
• Green Mountain Creamery (Ehrmann Commonwealth Dairy)
• Alta Dena (Dean Foods)
• Sunshine Dairy
• Shamrock Farms
• Stonewall Farms
• Vermont Organics (Perrigo Nutritionals)
• Pavel’s Yogurt
• Mother’s Choice (Larsen’s Creamery)
• Pure Eire Dairy
• Santini Foods