In a damning investigation, the nonprofit organization Farm Forward has exposed a troubling reality behind one of the country’s most celebrated ‘regenerative’ dairy farms. The report alleges that Alexandre Family Farm, a prominent organic operation in California that sells to major grocery chains like Whole Foods, has been routinely abusing and neglecting its animals.
The investigation, based on whistleblower accounts, uncovered a litany of disturbing practices at the farm. This includes cows being dragged by a skid loader, dozens trampled to death, and around 80 heifers killed with a .22 rifle due to calving issues. The report also describes a cow’s clogged teat being cut off with a rusty knife without any pain management, as well as animal remains left to decompose on the land, potentially contaminating local waterways.
What makes these findings all the more shocking is that Alexandre Family Farm has been certified as ‘organic’ by the USDA and ‘Humane’ by the Certified Humane® program. ‘At a time when millions of Americans are turning away from cows’ milk, companies like Alexandre and retailers like Whole Foods are lying to the public to try and reverse the trend and protect their profits,’ said Andrew deCoriolis, the executive director of Farm Forward.
The report calls into question the credibility of organic and humane certifications, noting that ‘even one of the country’s most prominent and celebrated organic farms is using the same abusive and polluting agricultural practices as factory farms.’ This failure of oversight by regulators and certifying bodies raises serious doubts about the ability of industrial dairy farming to ever truly align with high ethical standards of animal welfare and environmental sustainability.
Farm Forward is now calling on Alexandre Family Farm to immediately address these abuses, and for retailers and certifying organizations to take action. ‘We hope that the Alexandres, responsible retailers like Whole Foods, certifying organizations, and government regulators can all come together to fix what is broken in our agricultural system,’ deCoriolis said. ‘Right now, there are structural problems in the dairy industry that incentivize animal abuse. We need to change that.’
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