The lifestyle of cows that produce organic milk for a Colorado company has been called into question.

At the core of a debate that goes before an Arizona court panel Wednesday is the cows' pasture time and their transition into an organic life.

The argument centers largely on whether consumers expect organic milk to simply be from cows raised without chemicals or whether they expect assurances on how those cattle are treated.

The Arizona panel will decide whether to combine several dozen class-action lawsuits against Boulder-based Aurora Organic Dairy. The reason for combining the cases, which are essentially the same, is to save time.

The lawsuits claim consumers bought organically labeled milk produced by the dairy that they argue wasn't produced following strict federal organic regulations, such as cows' access to pasture. The lawsuits seek to stop the company from producing organically labeled milk products and unspecified damages for those who are party to the suit.

Complaints about the company's organic processes began more than two years ago with a watchdog group and reached the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which conducted an investigation that led to a consent agreement.

The company, which has five farms in Colorado and Texas, changed some of its operations, sold off part of its herd and signed the agreement with the federal government requiring its sites to adhere to rules more stringent than those at other organic farms.

Nationwide, 2.5 percent of the total milk market is organic, and that number is growing annually as customers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for such products.

At a local King Soopers last week, the price for a gallon of regular whole milk was $3.99 compared with $4.95 for a gallon of organic whole milk.

"Primary tenets"

"It's important to note that the primary reasons consumers choose organic is because it's produced without pesticides, no hormones are allowed to increase production and no antibiotics are given to the animals," said Sonja Tuitele, spokeswoman for Aurora Organic Dairy. "Those primary tenets of our organic production have never been questioned."

Indeed, those facts have not been disputed in the lawsuits, and the company has kept its organic certification since 2003 without lapse.

The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute, a farm-policy watchdog group, filed the complaints leading up to the USDA investigation. Cornucopia is funded by nonprofit foundations, organic businesses and individuals, including farmers.

In addition to grazing time and transition methods, the lawsuits address ownership of livestock certification.

Aurora Organic Dairy has filed a formal response to one of the lawsuits in U.S. District Court. The company said its products and operations have always been certified organic under federal regulations.

The dairy - which produces private-label organic milk for Costco, Wal-Mart, Target and Safeway, and previously for Wild Oats, now owned by Whole Foods - was founded in 2002 by Mark Peperzak and Mark Retzloff, the original founders of Boulder-based Horizon Organic, later bought by Dean Foods.

A year ago the Organic Consumers Association called for a boycott of any brand made by Aurora Organic Dairy and later encouraged consumers to join the class-action lawsuits.

Ronnie Cummins, director of the consumers association, calls the USDA's action against the dairy a "slap on the wrist."

The organic regulations, Cummins said, provide "loopholes" for companies. For example, the regulations are not specific enough on how many days a cow must be out to pasture.

"Organic dairy means . . . you pasture the animals every single day of the growing season and means they are raised from birth organic," Cummins said. "You can't buy cheap heifers and bring them onto an organic farm and say they are organic..."

Full Story: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8083332