Can Farmers Trust Organic Soymeal from China?

"Like farmers across the country, southwest Washington dairyman Bill Goeres had been dismayed to learn about the tainted pet food and livestock feed ingredients that had come into this country from China.

So he was understandably shocked when a Cargill Animal Nutrition salesman recently told him that he could line him up with an independent broker who was offering organic soymeal from China. Last fall, the price had been about $200 per ton less than domestic soymeal, although the price has gone up since then.

The salesman, John Orange, said he's been to dairies in Oregon where he's seen organic soymeal from China, and one dairy farmer in Eastern Washington told him he had included Chinese soymeal in his feed ration.

"It sounds kind of scary," said Goeres, who is a conventional dairy farmer. "We're so stringent with our organic requirements in our own borders, but are we just as stringent for products coming in from outside our borders? How do consumers know?"

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