User:Gardenerlynn/Cornucopia Institute

Term: Cornucopia Institute

The Cornucopia Institute is a farm policy research, education and advocacy group based in Cornucopia, Wisconsin.

The organization acts as a governmental and corporate watchdog in the organic and sustainable food and farming arena. Much of their focus over the past few years has been on "factory farms" producing organic milk and organic eggs, and cheap imported commodities from China and elsewhere (of dubious organic certification). The organization advocates for strong enforcement action by the USDA against companies and farms violating the federal organic standards to ensure the integrity of the organic label. Cornucopia’s work has led to the decertification of some agribusinesses, especially those involved in organic dairy, that violated the organic standards and forcing other “factory farms” to change their practices to ensure compliance with the organic standards

Cornucopia’s online “organic dairy scorecard” helps consumers find organic dairy brands of high organic integrity (90% of all organic brands based on their in-depth research). A similar scorecard by Cornucopia has been produced for organic soy foods and organic eggs.

The organization also spearheads the effort to return untreated domestically-grown raw almonds to the marketplace (they are in court challenging the USDA mandate to "pasteurize" raw almonds with toxic fumigant or steam heat). Cornucopia acts as a marketplace watchdog ensuring that organic foods, especially organic infant formula, are free of unapproved, synthetic ingredients.