In an effort to reverse an anti-organic rider that was passed into law last month, Organic Valley Family of Farms, LaFarge, Wis., is asking Congress to pass a hastily prepared “Organic Restoration Act”.

George Siemon, Founding Farmer/CEO of Organic Valley Family of Farms and Livestock Committee Chair of the National Organic Standards Board, called on Congress to pass the Leahy-Snowe bill that rescinds the anti-organic rider snuck into the 2003 spending bill.

“This rider is a slap in the face to organic farmers,” says Siemon, who represents the more than 500 organic farmers in the Organic Valley cooperative. “It threatens the economic viability of organic farmers, undermines the foundations of organic agriculture, and tears down public trust in the USDA organic seal.”

The rider, which passed along with the bill on February 13, permits livestock producers to label their products organic even when they have been produced from livestock raised without a 100% organic diet.