The New York Times has an article about dairy farms - all of which are in trouble these days.  There is a glut on the market for dairy products, and times are tough for any small farmer.  The situation is particularly bad for dairy farmers who converted to organic within the last few years.  With the recession, the bottom has fallen out of the market for organic products.  

I live in a rural area, surrounded by farmland, and I spend a lot of time chatting with small local producers.  Whenever the issue of organic comes up, everyone tells the same story.  "I do things the right way, but official organic certification is too difficult and expensive."

Unfortunately, there is no easy way out of this situation.  The weasels ruined it for everyone.  Back before the USDA slapped down rules about when you can and can't use the word "organic," the word meant essentially nothing.  Anyone could call their produce "organic," without having to justify their use of the word. (We are seeing this now in the marketplace with the gradual creep of the term "green.")

The current rules for use of the word "organic" require the producer to have 100% control of every aspect of their operation, and to use the most expensive equipment and supplies available.  Here's a good example: legally you cannot sell eggs from free-range pastured hens as "organic."  Even if you fence in your property, and you never use chemical fertilizers or pesticides on the range pasture where your chickens forage, you still can't call it organic.  Why?  Because you are not physically handing them their food.  The chain of evidence is broken the minute your hens leave the coop to enjoy a beautiful afternoon out in the pasture.

One unintended consequence of the organic certification process is that large scale factory farms and agribusiness corporations are favored over small scale, family owned operations.  Every moment of a battery hen's life is carefully controlled, so it's easy for her eggs - which roll out of her shoebox-sized cage and onto a conveyor belt - to be certified organic.  Certainly her eggs are free of pesticide and antibiotic residue, but is this really what you were getting at, when you picked up a carton of eggs labeled "organic" at the grocery store?

Here's another great example: I buy my milk from Golden Glen Creamery, which is located about 20 miles away.  Their 65 cows are happy and healthy, range free on a huge pasture, receive top-quality care, and even have names.  Furthermore, Golden Glen sells their all-natural milk in reusable glass bottles with a deposit.  The Jensens are a sterling example of how to do things the right way.  

And yet, technically the milk is not certified organic.  

Unfortunately, for the casual grocery shopper there is no way to identify Golden Glen's milk as "TOTALLY AWESOME."  I'm thinking about developing a pilot program for the "TOTALLY AWESOME" stamp, which could be applied to products like milk from the Golden Glen Creamery.  Act now: get your application in today!  Be sure to sign the form in triplicate, and attach a delicious sample of your product.

(Edited to clarify confusion between "free range" and "pastured" poultry.  Chickens with access to a 1-foot fenced dirt run can be technically deemed "free range."  "Pastured" poultry is let loose on acreage, the best example of which can be found at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm.)