Aurora Organic Dairy

Aurora Organic Dairy is a large factory farm milk producer bottling private-label organic milk for Walmart, Costco, and Target that was co-founded in 2003 by Mark Retzloff and Marc Peperzak. According to the company's website, "Aurora Organic Dairy is the leading producer of private-brand organic milk and butter for U.S. retailers. Based in Boulder, Colorado, we operate a calf ranch and organic dairy farms in Colorado and Texas, as well as an organic dairy processing plant in Platteville, Colorado." These "farms" have anywhere from 1,000 to several thousand cows at each location, for a total of about 12,000 milking cows as of 2008.

Controversies
In April 2007, complaints by the organic watchdog organization Cornucopia Institute led to the U.S. Department of Agriculture issuing Aurora a "notice of proposed revocation" of its organic certification for "willful" violations of federal organic standards. According to Colorado Biz Today, "The USDA listed 14 violations, among them that Aurora Organic had entered conventional cows into milk production before the required one-year period of continuous organic management, and had failed to establish and maintain cows’ access to pasture at its Platteville facility. . . . Aurora Organic settled with the USDA in August 2007, agreeing among other things to reduce the size of its herd at the Platteville farm from 4,200 to 1,000 cows and increase its grazing pastures by 75 acres." But that settlement also did not involve any financial penalty for the company.

Aurora co-founder Mark Retzloff told FORTUNE Magazine that he feels victimized by the charges, despite the slap on the wrist issued without financial penalty (the Cornucopia Institute called this a "sweetheart deal"). "We don't think we did anything wrong," Retzloff said, adding that he thinks current rules about access to pasture are too vague and other violations listed by the USDA were either trivial or committed by a supplier that the company no longer uses. "People are saying you're not putting your cows out to pasture," he says. "Well, we are. Just not the way you'd like us to."

According to Colorado Biz Today, "Class-action lawsuits on behalf of consumers have been filed against not only Aurora Organic but against retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart and Safeway that carry Aurora Organic milk under various private labels. Nineteen different lawsuits, representing plaintiffs in at least 40 states, have been consolidated in U.S. District Court in St. Louis."

Executive Staff
As of February 2013:


 * Marc Peperzak – Chief Executive Officer
 * Scott McGinty – President
 * Cammie Muller – Chief Financial Officer
 * Juan Velez, M.V., M.S., Dipl. A.C.T. – Senior Vice President, Farm Operations
 * Jay C. Wilson - Senior Vice President, Technical Services
 * Gary Sebek – Senior Vice President Corporate Development
 * Sally Keefe – Vice President, Government & Legal Affairs
 * Dan Placke – Vice President, Farm Financial Services
 * Jim Abraham – Vice President, Sales
 * Merritt Horn – Director, Information Technology
 * Donna Getman – Director, Human Resources & Corporate Services

Former Personnel

 * Mark Retzloff, former President and co-founder (with Mark Peperzak)

Contact Information
Aurora Organic Dairy 1919 14th Street, Suite 300 Boulder, CO 80302-5328 Phone: (720) 564-6296 Email: info AT auroraorganic DOT com Web: http://www.auroraorganic.com

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Mark Retzloff‎
 * Just Label It
 * Marc Peperzak
 * Horizon Organic