"Attorneys representing 52 consumers in a lawsuit against Boulder, Colorado-based Aurora Organic Dairy and some of the nation's largest retailers will face off in court today at the federal court in the Eastern District of Missouri, Judge Richard Webber, presiding.

"The consumers allege that the milk they purchased, although labeled as "organic", did not meet federal organic standards. Their attorneys will argue claims including breach of contract and of implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and also claims under the consumer protection and deceptive trade practices statutes of several states."

If you're interested in the integrity of organic standards, keep your eye on this case -- at ENN or Organic Consumers Association. If Judge Webber tosses it out of his court, it means that all recourses for enforcing organic standards as written -- executive (USDA), legislative (congress), and judicial avenues -- will have been attempted and shut down. The case might climb to higher courts, but the damage to consumer confidence that the organic industry will suffer along the way will be a death-blow, in my opinion. This is a watershed moment for the organic industry.

After all, as the article points out:, some of the biggest retailers in the universe are also named in the suit, such as:

Costco Wholesale Corporation, Safeway Inc., Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and Wild Oats Market, Inc.

They are named because all of them had their own private label organic milk, which was supplied by Aurora Organic Dairy.

Aurora is accused of gaming the organic standards by creating 5 confinement cattle lots with thousands and thousands of cattle each, a curiosity when USDA organic standards seem fairly clear about not over-confining animals and providing ample access to pasture. But organic dairy standards say that sick cattle don't have to be pastured. Aurora apparently defines all pregnant cattle as "sick" in its organic handling plan and can thereby flaunt the pasture rule. Allegedly. So I'm told.

Meanwhile, Aurora has flooded the market with cheap organic milk. Any time you see organic milk for under $6.00 a gallon? It came from an Aurora "organic farm" originally.

If Webber decides in favor of the plaintiffs, the cosnumers, Aurora is so huge and central that the organic retail sector will have to reorganize itself where organic milk and dairy are concerned, at a time when organic milk prices are already spiking due to the exorbitant cost of feed. So that doesn't seem likely to me.
 (On a side note, Webber is infamous for knuckling down on small farmers on behalf of Monsanto [his court is in Monsanto's district]. Webber is the judge who sentenced Tennesse farmer Kern Ralph to prison for saving Monsanto-patented GMO seeds because the farmer couldn't pay the fine of $100,000 or a re-assessed fine of $1.7 million. This is not a "Honk if You're Organic!" kinda judge.)

So if he acts at all, he'll decide that the lawsuit is frivolous, Case closed.  Stick a fork in organics. It's over, baby.

But there might be a "third way" that would let this Monsanto judge off fthe hook. Careful readers who followed that link above will note that the organic certifier is also named as a defendant in this case, Quality Assurance International (QAI). If the judge were cagey, he would single QAI out and drop all the other charges. After all, Aurora isn't to blame, really. The USDA accredits organic certifiers -- not Wal-Mart or CostCo -- to be the eyes, ears and last line fo defense of "all things organic." Aurora isn't gaming the system if they develop a handling plan and QAI signs off on it saying, "Sure, we think the organic rule is broad enough to say that pregnant cattle are 'sick' and should be confined in a CAFO."  Really, the USDA isn't culpable either. Like the consumers who filed they case, the USDA is reliant on certifiers who have integrity. If the standards are being gamed by anyone, its QAI.

But proving QAI did so willfully will be another matter entirely. But I'll say this much -- like any certifier, they may have had cause to game the system.

Stay tuned.