Decision Allowing Monsanto and Others to Pour Political Money Into Congressional Campaigns Is a Threat to Organic Agriculture

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · July/August 2010

If you think it’s tough now trying to derail the global campaign by Monsanto and others to mislead the media and convince gullible policymakers that GMOs are the solution to feeding the world, you haven’t seen anything yet. The U.S. Supreme Court has just handed the instigators of this effort a big political gift in its decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case. [click to continue…]

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Getting All 27 Agencies to Support Organic Farming: A New USDA Approach that Seems to be Underway

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is engaged in a campaign to convince the organic community that its support for organic farming now extends well beyond the National Organic Program (NOP) and includes active involvement of every one of its 27 agencies. Is it possible to spread organic awareness throughout USDA, a huge bureaucracy with more than 100,000 employees, and get every agency on board and every employee to plant a garden? This was one of Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan’s more ambitious goals when she assumed the No. 2 position at USDA more than a year ago. There is increasing evidence she is getting this done.

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USDA Had an Organic Farming Coordinator in 1980; Call for Reinstatement Now Made 30 Years Later

At this time 30 years ago the most important organic farming policy document ever produced by the federal government was being edited for the last time and typed up at the U.S. Department of Agriculture so it could be rushed to the Government Printing Office to meet a July publication deadline.
No government report on organic farming since has even come close to being as comprehensive and significant as “Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming,” the official 94-page document that summarized the work and findings of a USDA study team given less than a year to complete its assignment.

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Farmers and Researchers Team Up: How This Helps Organic Farmers Shape the Research Being Done (Jan/Feb 2010)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Jan/Feb 2010 Recent trends in organic research suggest Midwest organic farmers may want to consider some new questions: Who are the scientists doing organic research in your state? What kind of research is being done? Are these researchers reaching out to involve you in their work? And are [...]

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Putting Organic Integrity First at the NOP: Is This New USDA Commitment for Real? (Nov/Dec 09)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Nov/Dec 2009 Is it possible organic integrity could become Priority Number One at the U.S. Department of Agriculture after all these years of inattentive oversight, lack of political support, lax and uneven enforcement, stingy appropriations, and poor management?

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USDA’s Surprising Decision to Order a Rigorous Outside Audit of Its Organic Accreditation Program Is a Huge Step Forward (Sept/Oct 09)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · January, 2007 After seven long years of stonewalling to block independent review and oversight of its troubled organic program, it looks like the U.S. Department of Agriculture may have its hands full in the coming year with not one, but two, organic program audits.

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