Stop Factory Farm Production of "Organic" Poultry & Eggs
In the European Union, organic standards require at least 43 ft.² per bird outdoors and the US leading organic brand, Organic Valley, affords their birds 5 ft.² outdoors, but the National Organic Standards Board Livestock Committee recommends that the USDA organic standards should require just 2 ft.² per bird of outdoor space!
2ft.² is simply not enough for birds to have meaningful access to the outdoors where they can exhibit their natural behaviors.
The Livestock Committee is proposing 1.5 ft.² indoors for laying hens, which is little better than the current industry standard for conventional cage-free, and certainly inadequate for organics.
Eggs from organic free-range hens raised outdoors on pasture are far more nutritious than eggs from hens kept indoors and raised on grain.
As you can see from the following videos, in addition to nutrition, there's also a big difference in the welfare of organic chickens that are pasture raised, as opposed to "cage-free".