PBS News Weekend

For more than seven years, the United States Department of Agriculture worked on new organic requirements related to livestock and poultry, which included stipulations for space, light and access to the outdoors. New rules were set to take effect this month that would have required hens producing organic eggs to be allowed seasonal outdoor access on soil. But in December the USDA withdrew the proposed changes, instead allowing organic egg farmers to continue using porches, structures that give the chickens fresh air but never actually allow them to step outside their enclosures. While some large producers were glad to see the repeal, which they said would have violated basic tenets of bio-security, organic advocates say it does not meet consumers' expectations on how the birds are raised. NewsHour Weekend's Megan Thompson reports.