1983-2008 Working For Organic Integrity

This collection includes material related to the successful national campaign to force the USDA to withdraw and rewrite the organic implementation rule. Organic Watch helped develop and implement strategy that resulted in the 278,000 negative comments that forced USDA to withdraw the proposed rule.

Guest Commentary published in the “OFARM Quarterly” – Organic Farmers and Consumers Face New Challenge: Stopping Government Backsliding on Organic Integrity 2006

Organic Farmers and Consumers Face New Challenge: Stopping Government Backsliding on Organic Integrity This guest commentary was published in the November 2006 issue of OFARM Quarterly. By Roger Blobaum Developments unfolding in the organic industry are raising serious new concerns about how fast the organic sector can be expanded and mainstreamed without weakening standards, undermining organic integrity, and turning off consumers concerned about the authenticity of organic products.

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Presentation on Organic Integrity Workshop at the MOSES Organic Farming Conference 2006

Organic Integrity Workshop, Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, LaCrosse, Wisconsin, February 25, 2006 I want to talk about the most important thing consumers buying organic food have wanted to be sure about, and that organic farmers who produce that food have wanted to be sure to provide, and that is organic integrity. It means organic food that is what the organic label says it is.

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Presentation at the OFARM Annual Meeting – Political Action Needed to Turn Back Threats to Organic Integrity 2004

Presented at the OFARM Annual Meeting in La Crosse, WI February 25, 2004, By Roger Blobaum I want to talk with you today about recent political developments that are undermining organic integrity and the support of consumers and environmentalists and that may be putting your markets and incomes at risk. My comments will focus on organic business trends, the organic guarantee system, the performance of the National Organic Program, and the integrity of USDA’s organic label.

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Presentation at the Upper Midwest Organic Conference 1998

Roger Blobaum, Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, February 20, 1998 When Faye Jones asked me last November to pick a title for my talk here, I had just completed a year as coordinator of a new initiative called the Soul of Agriculture Project. And I had just spent several weeks putting together a national conference in Minneapolis entitled “The Soul of Agriculture: A New Production Ethic for the 21st Century.”

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Testimony to the US Senate Agriculture Committee on the Organic Rule 1997

My name is Roger Blobaum and most of my work on organic food and farming has been as a consultant to public interest organizations and institutions. This process has dragged on a long time. In 1990 the Senate Agriculture Committee was presented with petitions containing 136,000 names of people asking for national organic standards. Most of the signatures were gathered at food co-ops and health food stores.

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Public Input to the National Organic Standards Board 1993

Statement by Roger Blobaum, Public Input Session, National Organic Standards Board, Kutztown, Pennsylvania May 16, 1993 Mr. Chairman and members of the board, my name is Roger Blobaum and I have a small consulting firm that provides professional services to organic and sustainable agriculture organizations.  I have been involved in the development of organic agriculture since 1972.  My first organic client, in fact, was the Rodale Press and I feel more than a little nostalgic in this setting. I speak only for myself in making this statement.  I requested a few minutes of your time because I am aware of questions being raised about the implementation process, by what I sense may be the beginning of a breakdown of good will among organizations and constituencies that came together in 1990

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Presentation at the Upper Midwest Organic Conference – Organic Farmers and the Feds: Can This Relationship Be Saved? 1993

Roger Blobaum, Upper Midwest Organic Conference, Sparta, Wisconsin, March 6, 1993 The title I have selected for this talk, “Organic Farmers and the Feds:  Can This Relationship Be Saved?”, describes in many ways the difficult political situation we face with organic agriculture today. Getting the feds and organic farmers together in 1990 wasn’t easy.  It certainly wasn’t love at first sight.

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