Cornucopia, WI – The new USDA organic pasture rule strengthening the requirement for grazing and pasturing livestock may not apply to beef cattle and other ruminants in meat production. In fact, the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) is seeking comments from farmers and consumers on a proposal to allow some level of confinement in feedlots for, as an example, organic beef cattle during the last four months of their lives during the “finishing” period prior to slaughter (when industry standards would feed them mostly grain/corn).

The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group based in Wisconsin, surveyed a broad spectrum of organic meat producers to better understand their production practices. The results reveal a wide range of practices.

Cornucopia found that the vast majority of organic beef producers graze their beef cattle on pasture until slaughter, never confining them to a feedlot. Approximately 60% of organic beef producers never feed any grain to their cattle (100% grass-fed). And another 20% maintain their cattle on pasture but provide small amounts of grain. The new rule’s proposed exemption for ruminant slaughter stock from obtaining feed from pasture is therefore not needed by the vast majority of farmers and ranchers producing organic beef.

The balance of organic producers say they need to depend on feedlots for finishing their cattle on grain in order to conform to market demand for meet that grades-out at choice under the USDA inspection system.

“In order to accommodate all production models we are asking the USDA to implement a new labeling approach for organic meat that better reflects the realities in organic agriculture,” said Mark Kastel, Cornucopia’s Senior Farm Policy Analyst.

The three labels proposed for organic meat from ruminants would be “Organic – Grain Finished,” “Organic – Pasture/Grain Finished,” and “Organic – 100% Grass Fed.”