Transparency and Continual Improvement
At CROPP Cooperative, we believe the Organic Movement embodies a philosophy that seeks to integrate the parts into a whole. Through this philosophy, organic farming is the art of cooperating with nature and a constant process of seeking balance between the parts and the whole. Organic farming is based on a Farm Plan, represented by the organic application, that addresses the actions being taken by the farmer to maximize the integration of organic principles. By using the Farm Plan as a road map, the organic farmer has a tool that assists in evaluating what creates balance, and what throws off the balance. As new farmer-members join us, our Member Services team works with them on their Farm Plan, engaging them in the process of Continual Improvement.
Continual Improvement, the effort of constant review, is a foundation principle for all of the Organic Valley and Organic Prairie products. As an organic farmers’ cooperative, we believe the commitment to Continual Improvement combined with the important concept of Transparency are essentials of our business model. Transparency allows us to show where we are today and how we are improving.
In this spirit, we have developed the Transparency webpage to provide information on topics such as our standards that go beyond the USDA organic standards, our policies and positions on organic issues, and our progress toward Continual Improvement on the farm and in our processing plants.
Having been a pioneer force in the Organic Movement for twenty years, we are amazed by the progress in “raising the bar” in organic standards. Organic farmers continue to be pioneers in effective sustainable farming techniques. The increase in the number of certified ingredients for organic food processing is a testimony to improvement. We believe that the organic standards of our Cooperative are among the strictest standards in agriculture. However, perfection is not possible, even in organic. There are always improvements that can be made.
We hope that this Transparency section allows you to see our genuine effort and helps you understand the compromises and lessons that are part of the Continual Improvement process. We pledge to embrace organic principles, not only in our farming and in our products, but in our business practices. We believe that Transparency and Continual Improvement are core organic principles.
If you have questions or comments, I welcome your input regarding these issues so that we may together further the organic mission. Please send your comments and questions to transparency(at)organicvalley.coop.
In Cooperation,
George L. Siemon, CEO
Continual Improvement Topics
- Family Farms
- Policy on 100% production from Cooperative Members
- Regional Labels
- Additional Farm Standards
- Pasture policy
- Access to outdoors
- Farm materials
- Antibiotics
- Replacement animals - Food Safety
- Ingredients
Family Farms
The mission of our Cooperative is to offer sustainable markets to family sized organic farms through organic production. Defining a family farm is a longstanding debate in the farm movement, because family farms are different depending on what products they produce or in what region their farm is located. Today’s family farm is much larger than the farm of 20 years ago due to changes in machinery, lifestyles and the loss of other family farms. To us it is pretty simple: a family farm is one where the family members provide the primary workforce and the farm is their livelihood. That being said, we do not believe that a definition alone can determine a family farm. Most important is the on-site visit by our staff and other farmer/members. Their recommendation is a critical part of the selection process. We are not just seeking family farms; we are looking for farmers that embrace organic integrity and that want to be part of our Cooperative.
Organic Valley is a cooperative which is owned by more than 1300 family farmers. We currently have 1011 dairy farmer members. Our average dairy herd size is 61, and our staff visits all of our farms on a regular basis. Click here to see our Organic Valley Dairy Herd Chart which shows the number of dairy cows at each of our dairy members' farms.
Policy on 100% Production from Cooperative Members
As a farmer cooperative, our goal is to have our members supply 100% of our production. As member/owners, our farmers pledge to comply with all our standards and policies, including those that go beyond the USDA rules. This way, we are assured that the principles Organic Valley and Organic Prairie stand for are being upheld.
Under special conditions, we do use a small amount of non-member, USDA certified organic production. This non-member production must also comply with identified additional production standards, and of course, all of our production is third-party USDA certified organic. We use non-member production when it is required for customer service, when it helps our farmers and when it leads to better fulfillment of our mission. These exceptions to our member-only supply goal average approximately 1% or less of our overall supply. We always source from our members first and foremost.
Regional Labels
Organic Valley has worked hard to develop a network of producers and processing plants across the United States. Presently we have seven different regional milk cartons that proudly state that we use organic milk from that region. A distinct icon of the region (a covered bridge in New England for example) under the Organic Valley logo identifies the region’s uniqueness. These regions include New England Pastures, Northeast Pastures, Heartland Pastures, Texas Pastures, Rocky Mountain Pastures, Pacific Northwest Pastures and California Pastures. We have a strict policy to only use milk from the region where it is produced, which is as close to the processing plant as possible. On rare occasions, under emergency circumstances, we will bring in milk from the surrounding region or outside the region if need be, to have a continuous supply of organic milk.
Learn more about our regional milk.
Additional Farm Standards
In our Cooperative, each “pool” of production, like the egg farmers or dairy farmers, may develop standards and policies that go above and beyond the USDA National Organic Standards or other legal requirements. These CROPP-specific standards and policies clarify requirements for materials allowed on our member farms, help assure high product quality standards are being met and assure our animal husbandry goals are being met. All members that join the Cooperative sign a membership agreement and pledge to abide by our additional Cooperative standards. In addition to our third party certifier, we also have trained staff members who conduct farm audits on specific standards to assure compliance.
- Pasture policy
- Access to outdoors
- Farm materials
- Antibiotics
- Replacement animals
Pasture Policy
Pasture is a foundation principle in organic livestock production. Our members have elected to follow a much stronger and more specific pasture policy than the current USDA pasture requirement that has caused much controversy due to its vagueness. To enforce our pasture policy we require a pasture plan to be part of the farmer-member’s overall Farm Plan, and on file with our Cooperative. In 2007, we physically inspected all of our dairy farms. The results of that audit demonstrated that 95% of all our dairy pool farmer-members were in compliance. The 5% who were not in full compliance were put on warning status to reach full compliance by the next pasture season or membership will be terminated. Our goal, in the spirit of Continual Improvement, is to give those farmers the opportunity to improve their pasture plan. We have and will terminate membership if compliance is not met.
Access to Outdoors
The National Organic Program (NOP) requires access to outdoors for all livestock with temporary exception due to weather, environmental or health concerns. Our Cooperative standards are stricter with specific requirements for each species. In our egg pool, members are required to provide a minimum of 5 square feet per bird outdoors and to maximize the pasture for the birds.
Farm Materials
We have supported the USDA National Organic Program (NOP)/National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) process for defining farm inputs but at times have disagreed with the final allowance of some materials.
The following materials that are allowed by USDA are not allowed in the CROPP Cooperative program:
Oxytocin—This is a hormone stimulating synthetic that is used widely in milk production to aid in calving and therapeutic uses. Since hormones are a great concern to us and to our citizen partners, we elected to not allow this "hormone mimicker" in organic milk. We can truthfully tell our consumers our products are “produced without synthetic hormones.”
Antibiotics
While antibiotics are not allowed in organic production, their use is encouraged for treating sick animals rather than allow the animal to suffer. If used, the animal cannot return to organic production. Our Cooperative maintains the ability to review members’ certification and if we determine that antibiotics are improperly used or an animal is allowed to suffer, that member may be terminated.
Even though antibiotics are not used as a medical tool in organic livestock, there are two minor exceptions where trace amounts of antibiotics are used as a preservative. Those exceptions are vaccines for young animals and artificial insemination, both of which are invaluable tools in organic production that aid in animal well being.
Replacement Animals
After entering organic dairying, we require our farmer-members to raise all of their future milk cows on their organic farms, organically from the day they are born. We see this as a critical component to animal health, and a holistic organic farming system works best when the animals are tied to the land from birth. Our farmers are held to this standard and if the animals raised on the farms are not adequate for the organic farm plan then they can only purchase other organically raised replacements or dairy animals that were transitioned in the new herd process. This standard is stronger than the USDA organic standard, and we continue to be active in advocating for the USDA standard to be strengthened to our standard.
Food Safety
Since we formed our farmer-owned cooperative more than 20 years ago, we have striven to provide our customers with the most nutritious and best tasting organic food that is produced under the strictest food safety standards. That not only includes our Organic Valley dairy, eggs, soy and produce products, but also the ingredients we provide to foodservice businesses as well as other manufacturers who make baby food, yogurt and more. We take our responsibility to provide high quality products very seriously and know that safety and integrity in how we produce our food are essential to the optimum health of our consumers and the planet.
The farmer-owners of Organic Valley are very proud of their reputation for high quality products and have pioneered one of the strictest standards in the industry to ensure that high quality standards are upheld. They have a unique “premium and deduct program” in place which significantly rewards or penalizes based upon level of quality. To ensure their standards are met, they have a farmer-led Work Improvement Program Committee that peer reviews quality and has the privilege to suspend farm product pick-up, if necessary, until quality improvements are made. We have a comprehensive quality assurance program in place that monitors quality throughout our product’s lifecycle – from the farm to the plate. We have always made our protocols available for review to any customer, producer, distributor or retailer who asks for it. Click here for the summary and details of our Quality Assurance program.
Ingredients in Organic Valley Products
We strive at every level to produce our products as naturally as possible with a minimum of additional ingredients. When we do add ingredients it is most likely consumer demand or government regulation that brings us to using these materials. An example would be calcium added to orange juice, which is our second-biggest seller in that category. Due to the way the natural calcium is processed, calcium is defined as a synthetic. The entire list of added ingredients in Organic Valley products that are either synthetic or non-organic that are allowed by the NOP are listed in the attached link. We are working hard to move away from these ingredients or at least to find organic sources for them. This is a work in progress and we will be updating this list regularly as we find alternatives.
