Court advances Organic Trade Association’s organic animal welfare lawsuit

The Organic Trade Association on Thursday hailed the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the association has presented solid arguments that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s failure to put into effect new organic livestock standards has caused harm to the organic sector, and that the association has the legal standing to contest the agency’s  withdrawal of the rule. “The court has recognized the harm to organic producers, to organic businesses, and to the integrity of the Organic seal that the USDA’s arbitrary and capricious stance against this important organic standard has already had, and the potential for even greater damage,” said Laura Batcha, CEO and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. “Our case will now advance. We are confident our case is strong and we look forward to winning this legal battle to uphold organic standards.”In its ruling, the Court rejected USDA’s arguments that the case against the rule’s withdrawal should be dismissed, saying “the OLPP (Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices) Withdrawal Rule drops the baseline for USDA certification and alters the regulatory landscape to the detriment of OTA’s members. Just as OTA’s members would have had standing to challenge any rollbacks of USDA’s organic certification program before the Final OLPP Rule, so too they have standing now to challenge rollbacks of the USDA’s certification program as constituted after the Final OLPP Rule.