Idaho Organic Dairies Receive Statewide Temporary Variance from Pasture Requirement; Aurora Dairy's Colorado Operations Receive More Generous Variance

By Ed Maltby, NODPA Executive Director and Kathie Arnold, NODPA Policy Committee Chair

Producers need temporary variances. Farming is all about dealing with the unexpected, even more so with dramatic weather fluctuations in regions that have not experienced such a range of weather extremes. What starts as a drought year may change as the year progresses and equally the opposite.

If it looks like drought or other natural disaster is going to prevent an operation from meeting the grazing standard, producers need to request their certifier apply to the National Organic Program (NOP) on their behalf for a temporary variance from pasture requirements during the grazing season, even though no one knows for sure what the weather and pasture growth for the rest of the grazing season will be. If an operation waits until the grazing season is near its end or is over, they will receive a non-compliance if they were unable to meet the minimum pasture requirements. Producers cannot apply for a variance themselves—it must come from their certifier and be submitted to the NOP.

With drought across many regions in 2026, we must expect applications by operations for a variance on the requirement for access to pasture. The NOP has posted variances for this requirement for three individual organic dairy operations, as well as a statewide variance for Idaho in 2026.

Idaho is ranked by Idaho Preferred as the number three state in the nation for certified organic milk production in 2024 and the Organic Integrity Database has 21 operations classified as dairies in the State. Certifiers that have clients in the state of Idaho applied for variances for many operations in Idaho and the NOP decided that the variance would apply to all certified ruminant livestock producers in the State. The temporary variance for the 2026 grazing season in Idaho due to drought reduces the DMI (dry matter intake) to 20 percent of the average dry matter demand from dry matter fed (instead of the 30% minimum requirement) during the 2026 grazing season. They halved the minimum required number of days that livestock had to be on pasture from 120 to 60. There was no posted definition of what their normal grazing season is. The temporary variance applies to all operations, both irrigated and not.

Aurora Dairy owns operations in Colorado at High Plains and Platteville, and their certifiers-- the State of CO and Where Food Comes From Organic--applied for a temporary variance and it was issued by the NOP for the 2026 grazing season. This variance applies only to their operations at High Plains, located in Gill, CO and Platteville Dairy in Platteville, CO which house approximately 40% of the total number of cows they own. NOP was even more generous with their allowance, requiring only 10 percent average dry matter intake from pasture (1/3 of the minimum DMI requirement), and must be grazed on pasture for no less than 75 days instead of the minimum of 120 days during the 2026 grazing season. Realistically, that means their livestock over six months in age need to be outside on pasture that has some nutrition for 75 days in 2026. Aurora Dairy in Platteville had 300 cows in March 2025 and is where one of Aurora’s two processing plants are located. Aurora Dairy has 4 dairies in Gill, CO with a total of 10,700 milking cows as of March 2025: High Meadow Dairy (2,600 milking cow), High Plains Dairy (4,000 milking cows), High Ridge Dairy (2,000 milking cows) and Little Calf Dairy (2,100 milking cows). According to the Organic Dairy Database, they are certified as one operation.

We can only guess at the volume of milk that these dairies with variances will produce in 2026 as we don’t have that data and the possible resulting effect on consumer confidence of having so much organically certified milk sold across the country produced from organic cows that have so little feed from pasture.

An evaluation of the process of granting temporary variances on access to pasture

NODPA, WODPA and OFA raised some questions as to both the process and concerns around obtaining a temporary variance in a meeting with the National Organic Program. Some of the points raised at the meeting included the process, which is somewhat opaque. A few examples:

• The power to submit a variance is with the certifier, not the producer, so if your certifier does not have the capacity or disagrees with your claim or does not submit the request during the grazing season, the producer cannot apply directly or appeal their decision.
• A variance is not a non-compliance. There is no requirement for a producer to change their operation or Organic System Plan (OSP) in the following year to mitigate the difficulty in reaching the required grazing standards.
• The variance is temporary and tied to one event in one specific tme period. As there is no regulatory definition of whether a variance can be given every year within the standards, an operation can apply for a variance year after year and still be granted one, as they have not had a non-compliance. (7 CFR 205.2 “Temporary and Temporarily”Temporary and Temporarily. Occurring for a limited time only (e.g., overnight, throughout a storm, during a period of illness, the period of time specified by the Administrator when granting a temporary variance), not permanent or lasting.
• The variance can also be applied for an “interruption of business.” There is no regulatory definition of what that means. In 2026, all domestic organic laying operations have a variance to allow induced molting due to business interruptions from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. I can only imagine what an imaginative lawyer can put together as a case for a variance for ‘business interruption.

Producers need variances of regulations for many legitimate reasons that are out of their control. There needs to be more transparency on who is getting the variance, even though that is time consuming for certifiers and the NOP, plus a level playing field is needed for all producers to apply for a variance.

The use of the word ‘temporary’ implies that the event is not repeated regularly. A regulatory definition of whether the same temporary variance can happen on a regular basis (every grazing season or every 3rd grazing season) is needed to provide consistency and legal standing in any court case. Similarly, we need a definition of what is a “business interruption,” and how this may factor into a risk management approach to verification of standards. This is work for the Organic Standards Board.

We need to return to stating the dates of the grazing season on the operation’s temporary variance on the website and a short description of why a variance has been granted.

Some certifiers are experienced with what is needed by NOP to grant a variance and others are not. We do not want a situation where operations are certifier shopping to cover the possibility of needing a temporary variance because of the experience or capacity of certain certifiers.

It costs certifiers time and money to apply for a waiver and NOP staff have been reduced, so the responsibility falls mainly on certifiers to respond to questions and request more data from the NOP. Who picks up the expense of the process? Certifiers can charge for it as they do for other services. For smaller operations that certifiers make little or no profit from, any charges they may have to pay, and the time involved in producing paperwork, may impact their ability to prepare and successfully receive a variance.

When so much product is at stake, we need to be able to show the media and the consumer that the process is protecting organic integrity and that large scale variances are followed up by changes to the operation's Organic System Plan and the number of animals on the operation when necessary. Producers need to know that the process is consistent, fair, and accessible by all operations.

Posted: to Industry News on Sun, Sep 6, 2026
Updated: Sun, Sep 6, 2026