The short answer is: "Yes, you do!" In fact, you cannot get the earth friendly, farm friendly seal of approval unless you use Monsanto's - soon to be Elanco's - Posilac / rBST / rBGH / recombinant bovine somatatrophin / recombinant bovine growth hormone.
This from a group that was so against labeling what goes into producing the food we know as milk.
crossposted from unbossed
The past year has been an amazing one for dairy and the use of artifcial hormones - or not - to produce milk. All dairy labeling hell broke out last year when it was revealed that PA State Agricultural Secretary Dennis Wolf had put together a stealth plan to ban milk labels that would inform people whether their milk had been produced with artificial hormones.
Wolff put together a stealth / fake committee - the FLAC group, the food labeling advisory group. - that supposedly looked at labels and then advised Wolff. More hell broke out when it the members of that committee were finally made public . . . and they turned out to be lobbyists, PA Ag Department officials and workers, pro-Monsanto folks of various stripes, a "consumer activist" whose mission is to sue grocery stores for charging tax on toilet paper, and other equally knowledgeable and unbiased sorts.
The anti-labeling issue then started popping up all over, like mushrooms whose spoor had been seeded by Monsanto and its money and its astroturf groups. Ohio, New Jersey, Missouri, Indiana, and on and on. It is still bubbling as astroturf groups like AFACT continue to push the issue and form ties with the soon to be owner of Posilac, Elanco.
[You can find past stories on these issues - enough prior stories to keep you busy for days - here ]
So, it is truly ironic that the astroturfers created their own label for foods. This one, the "Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly" Seal of Approval, would go to producers and farmers who could prove that they complied with Center for Global Food Issues, cough, cough, standards. More on the CGF here.
The Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly Seal
Products from farms meeting our requirements will be eligible to display the Center for Global Food Issues "Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly" Seal of Approval. Producers and Farmers using this seal agree to abide by CGFI's Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly Farm and Agricultural Management Principals, provide affidavits affirming their compliance and make their operations and related records available for verification by independent agricultural experts.
link
It all sounds so benign - but this group and their projects are anything but.
The Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI), in conjunction with independent academic, consumer and farm policy and practice experts, has designed a program of farm and process management practices that are independently verifiable as both farm and environment friendly. CGFI's "Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly" Seal will assure the public that all products that bear the Seal are produced in a manner consistent with the best available scientific, environmental and quality standards and technologies. Unlike other certification programs, like Organic or Humane Farmed, CGFI's Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly Seal is not based on restricting or eliminating farmers' production choices. Our certification program is based on farmer's adoption of environmentally sound and economically sustainable practices while not limiting their freedom to farm.
. . .
Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly is intended to provide farmers with information and tools to produce more food per acre, leaving more room for nature, using techniques and practices that have been scientifically proven and endorsed by experts. Unlike other certification programs, Earth Friendly Farm Friendly offers farmers more choices-rather than limiting them. It also provides retailers and consumers with expert-backed certification that the products they are purchasing are both good for the earth as well as good for farmers and the farm economy. In addition, Earth Friendly/Farm Friendly practices help keep food costs for consumers affordable as they encourage farmers to be more productive while using fewer resources.
[I added the link above. It is not in the original.]
When you go to the FFEF certification page, it looks pretty legit in terms of many of their requirements, well, except for having to use "productivity supplements, such as somatotropin and/or rumen buffers".
- Maintenance of above average milk production (> than U.S. herd average) and using at least two of the following practices:
• 3X per day milking (increases production per cow by up to 7%)
• Use of proven sired-Artificial Insemination (AI)
• Use of productivity supplements, such as somatotropin and/or rumen buffers
• Rotational grazing of pastures to maximize grass/forage production and utilization
What else would you expect from a group that is so wed to fakery and astroturery?
Go to Political Friendster, and you will see that this initiative is closely tied to the astroturf Monsanto brigade.
And if you take a look at its Advisory Group, you will see the usual Monstanto fellow traveler suspects. Although according to its claims, it is all about science and credibility rather than doing their masters' bidding.
The Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI) Earth Friendly, Farm Friendly™ Seal of Approval program has announced the completion of its advisory committee and has started contacting select dairy producers for involvement in the seal’s pilot program. The committee boasts internationally recognized academic experts, public policy, industry and consumer representatives. "The advisory committees participation is a key aspect of the seal concept - a science-based, credible alternative to some of the other, less rigorous marketing seal programs in existence today," stated Alex Avery, Director of Research for CGFI.
Reminds me, oh so much, of the Dennis Wolff FLAC group, the food labeling advisory group. As with Wolff's group, this initiative appears to have been a product of a big PR effort in about 2003-2004 and then fizzled out.
For example, its "AWARE certification" is supposed to be through EMS LLC, but:
- If you go to the EMS website, you learn that three years ago it changed its name:
EMS LLC is now Validus: "Environmental Management Solutions, LLC changed their name to Validus Services, LLC in 2005" - something FFEF seems unaware of.
- Validus appears to be legit, but oddly enough, it is unAWARE that it is supposed to be doing "AWARE certification". link. Also look at the Validus Amimal Welfare page.
- I got no hits for "AWARE certification" or reasonable variants in a search.
But, then, one wonders, if this is all a sham:
- Why is its website still so alive?
- And why do some farms currently list an affiliation with it on their websites?
Perhaps the answer lies in the basic nature of this astroturf group and its relationship with the Hudson Institute. You can find more on these guys at this post: December 24, 2007 Got rBST? Tracking down the front groups.
And here: PRwatch on Dennis Avery - he of "author of the tract 'Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic'."
And more here.
And they have a lot of fellow travelers, including Eat First.
And, I can't resist, but here is another story by the administrator of EAT First! (www.eatfirst.org), on the wonders of technology in a, well, journal devoted to manure. Almost a commentary on the quality of her claims. Eat First! is, according to this source:
a fact-based, proactive educational program focused on counteracting misinformation about the environment, agriculture, and the technology used in high-yield production. Pat has been active in the agricultural community for over 30 years. She has a Masters Degree in Nutrition from the University of California at Davis.
link