Critics challenge status of Aurora Organic Dairy

PLATTEVILLE — A Wisconsin-based group alleges Platteville’s Aurora Organic Dairy is nothing more than a conventional dairy with the word organic in the title.

The Cornucopia Institute of Cornucopia, Wis., filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking the agency to investigate violations of the federal organic law by Aurora’s Platteville operation. The 5,600-cow dairy and processing operation caught the eye of the organic activist group after a story published in the Chicago Tribune.

The group takes issue with the legality of confining organic dairy cows in what they consider an industrial setting without access to pasture.

“We…