I don't use a lot of milk, but I do buy any animal product organic. I've kept the quality of my food the same, but used more recipes with less expensive ingredients (for instance beans or pasta).

I feel bad for organic producers that have trouble just as I feel bad for any farmer who hits bad times. Unfortunately, organic farming leads to much higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional. Most people think it is the opposite, but the methane emissions from manure and compost give organic a much bigger "carbon footprint".

The comments posted above by Steve are incorrect. Organic products generally utilize compost and manure (and thereby "produces" methane) which is already being produced by existing plant and animal by-products and incorporates the principle of re-use into this, rather than those products being discarded. That organic matter being discarded would produce the same amount of methane in a landfill.

Actually, I'm not wrong. The ideal would be for the "organic products" that go into composting to go into a methane digester so that all that biological energy could be turned into a carbon neutral fuel. By the way, I've recently found more sources of data on methane emissions from composting from air quality management boards. Yes, organic matter going into a landfill is the really dumb option. Composting is better, but not as good as it could be

Okay, Steve, I've taken your bait... I checked out your blog and it's obvious that you have the scientific background to back your claims, as well as an agenda to further. I admit that scientific application of traditional farming technology as you advocate may be lower impact than organic farming on a large scale. In the real world though, outside your labratory, this concept simply is simply not being applied, and I maintain that small scale organic farming and more specifically organic milk production is lower impact than the vast majority of "conventional".

Mea Culpa,
I'm not a great supporter of the way we produce most meat and milk, but options are limited because the producers are always squeezed by downstream customers who have more leverage. I'd happily pay a premium for animal products produced in the best way from a science and ethics point of view. It would have some features of Organic but not all. As much manure as possible would be turned into clean energy. There would be a balanced use of pasture and grain grown no-till with cover crops...