Organic and conventional farmers lambaste non-GMO milk label

There’s a new food category that is gaining popularity with shoppers, but that’s also becoming an enemy of farmers — both of the conventional and organic persuasion.  The Chronicle reported that Clover Stornetta Farms of Petaluma would be adding non-GMO certification to its conventional milk in early 2017, meaning it would require dairy farmers use GMO-free feed with its conventional herds. Milk is not genetically engineered, and neither are dairy cows. Most conventional milk comes from cows given supplemental feed from genetically engineered corn and soy. “Non-GMO milk” is shorthand for milk from cows that do not consume such feed — which is also true of organic milk. “The whole GMO labeling movement has really put a damper on the organics movement,” said author Rebecca Thistlethwaite…. “There are a lot of consumers who falsely believe that when they buy non-GMO it’s meeting certain value standards that they have around sustainability, but without the organic price tag.”