⠀ Organic or conventional: The difference explained.

[Purina]

There’s been a lot of talk about organic chicken feed lately. What exactly is the difference between organic and conventional?

To start, both traditional and organic feed options provide the same nutritional value. However, organic chicken feed ingredients are sourced differently.

Conventional:

· Chickens can be fed any complete feed which meets their daily nutrition needs.

· Do not need to raise birds according to organic requirements established by USDA.

· Chickens can be transitioned between conventional and organic feeds at any time, but the eggs or meat cannot be sold as organic.

USDA Certified Organic

· Birds must have been under continuous organic management beginning no later than the second day of life.

· Chicks must be fed organic feed from the beginning for farm fresh eggs to be considered fully organic.

· For a feed to be considered organic, all ingredients must be raised and manufactured according to the requirements established by the National Organic Program.

· Organic poultry, including birds used for meat or eggs, lose organic status if they are removed from the organic farm and managed on a non-organic operation.

· You can return them to organic feed, but they cannot be rotated back into certified organic production.

Learn how to go organic: http://bit.ly/2sSdkJh

Do you have questions on raising backyard chickens organically? Ask them below, and we’ll have our experts respond!

 

[Birdinhand]

this kind of misses the heart of it for me. For me organic signifies that the chicken feed has been raised without synthetic fertilizers and without pesticides. for me this is important for two main reasons. to grow a healthy plant without fertilizers or pesticides you can't fake the soil quality as you can with non-organic methods, if the soil isn't healthy, the plant won't look healthy. I think of non-organic methods as having a similar effect of steroids in creating a false appearance of strength (that's not to say I'm against all use of steroids in humans or even pesticides and chemical fertilizers on plants, but I do my best to avoid them). the second thing that is important to me is bio-accumulation. any fat soluble toxins get concentrated as you go up the food chain. I have two young children and I have decided to be on the safe side with respect to nerve toxins, such as many pesticides are. meat and dairy are were more than 90% of our chemical exposure from food comes from. so for me, keeping the food chain clean for my family is about offering the best nutrition and food that is mostly free of man-made toxins. when it comes to how I raise my chickens, the same applies, I want to provide them with the adequate nutrition for them to have strong immune systems with as little bolstering from things like antibiotics and other medications. Now all that said, if I had an outbreak in my flock of something that I couldn't get rid of without resorting to modern medicine, I would use it as necessary, but I'd rather use good nutrition as a first line of defense.

 

[Aerliss]

So it's just about feed and land management? Organic status in the US has no minimum welfare standards?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Correct, organic certification in the US has no welfare component.
While certified organic is a fairly strict program, most US labeling regulations are pretty lax and have little meaning compared to the UK and EU. (thank you big ag lobbyists)
Some terms we see on packaging are meaningless or misleading. Some will surprise you.
Here is a list of USDA defined terms for meat as well as when they can and can't be used.
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/food-labeling/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms

'Free Range' meant birds had to have outdoor access. That could be a small pop door in a building with 400,000 cage free birds that couldn't all get out in a day. Once outside, they may be confined to a porch or ground with no greenery growing.

A new Certified Humane® "Free Range" requirement is 2 sq. ft. per bird. The hens must be outdoors, weather permitting and must be outdoors 6 hours per day.


A new Certified Humane® "Pasture Raised" requirement is 1000 birds per 2.5 acres (108 sq. ft. per bird) and the fields must be rotated.

That's a move in the right direction.