Posts Tagged ‘INSIDE ORGANIC’
INSIDE ORGANIC: Agency Solicits Research Agenda Input From Organic Farmers For Poorly-Funded 5-Year National Organic Research Program (Nov 06)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · Nov/Oct 2006 The national research agenda workshop convened last month by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency with 2,100 scientists and a $1.1 billion annual research budget, would appear to suggest a significant breakthrough in support for organic food and farming…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Wal-Mart’s Move into Organic Retailing Creates Concern and Uncertainty in the Organic Sector (Sept 06)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · Sept-Oct 2006The surprise announcement that Wal-Mart, the world’s largest food merchandiser, plans to use its well-known price cutting approach to move aggressively into organic retailing is sending waves of concern and uncertainty through the organic food and farming sectors. The Wal-Mart move, part of a…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Expanding and Mainstreaming Organic Without the Loss of Integrity: The Proposed National Organic Action Plan Can Help Make That Happen (July 06)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · July/August 2006The formal launching of a National Organic Action Plan process this summer has the potential to provide a community-wide response to the challenge of steering organic 20 years into the future and beyond and deciding how it can be expanded and mainstreamed without losing…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Naming Industry Representatives to Consumer Slots Upsets the Balance And Undermines the Integrity of the National Organic Standards Board (May 06)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · May-June 2006 The appointment of two industry representatives to National Organic Standards Board slots reserved for consumer/public interest representatives has raised new questions about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s commitment to enforce legal requirements of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and protect the…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: The Search Is Underway for the Missing Organic Farmer Voice (March 06)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · March-April 2006 A new nationwide search is underway for the missing political voice of America’s organic farmers. The fact that an authentic organic farmer voice is usually missing when political decisions impacting organic food and farming are made is getting increasing attention in the…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Big Push Underway to Make Organic Farming a 2007 Farm Bill Priority (Jan 06)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · Jan/Feb 2006 Organizations involved in national organic food and farming policymaking are gearing up in the coming months to convince Congress to expand support for the organic sector in the rewrite of farm bill provisions that expire in 2007. This provides an opportunity for…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Hill Fight Signals Alarming Shift in How Organic Policy Is Made (Nov 05)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · November 2005 The bitter fight in Congress that has split the organic community and alarmed its leaders is about much more than the Harvey vs. Johanns court decision and its impact on the dairy conversion, synthetics, and commercial availability provisions of the Organic Foods…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: The Public Benefits of Organic Farming and Why They Matter: An Urgent Call to Action to Get This Important Story Told (Sept. 05)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · MOSES Broadcaster · September 2005 Organic farmers have a story to tell and need to work harder telling it. The story is about the public benefits of organic farming and why they matter far beyond America’s organic farms. Some have gotten the message and acted on it. An…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Decision Allowing Monsanto and Others to Pour Political Money Into Congressional Campaigns Is a Threat to Organic Agriculture July/August 2010
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…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Getting All 27 Agencies to Support Organic Farming: A New USDA Approach that Seems to be Underway May/June 2010
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · May/June 2010 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…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: USDA Had an Organic Farming Coordinator in 1980; Call for Reinstatement Now Made 30 Years Later (March 2010)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · March/April 2010 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…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: 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…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: 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?
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: 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.
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Market-Led or Government-Facilitated Organic Growth? Results Show Market-Led Approach Has Fallen Short (July/Aug 2009)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · July/Aug, 2009 How does “Organic Farming: Good for Nature, Good for You” strike you as a new U.S. Department of Agriculture slogan? Or “Organic Farming: In Goodness We Trust”? Or even “Organic Farming: Wickedly Good”? These nifty new government organic farming slogans are real and they’re out there.…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Environmental Plan Forwarded to Obama Team Calls for More Support for Organic Agriculture (May-June 09)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · May/June, 2009 An important development in the rush to put new policy agendas in the hands of the Obama transition team is the inclusion of more support for organic farming in a list of green action priorities put forward by the nation’s most politically active environmental and conservation…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: New Census of Agriculture Numbers Support the Claim Organic Is One of Agriculture’s Fastest Growing Sectors (March/April 09)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · March/April, 2009 The 2007 Census of Agriculture, the first to include detailed national information on both the number and size of farms under organic management and the number in transition to organic, provides new evidence organic agriculture is holding its own as one of American agriculture’s fastest growing…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Organic Farming Memo to New Obama Administration: An Organic Program Upgrade Is Badly Needed at USDA (Jan/Feb 09)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Jan/Feb 2009 When President-Elect Barak Obama takes office in January, he becomes the fourth president challenged to fully implement the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act and to develop and support a National Organic Program that supports organic farmers, meets consumer expectations, and guarantees organic integrity. He succeeds three…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: Congress Pressured to Cut Mandatory Organic Research Funding (Nov/Dec 08)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Nov/Dec 2008 Less than six months after making farm bill funding for cost share and organic research programs mandatory, the Bush Administration is pressuring Congress to “chimp” mandatory organic research and education funding and turn almost half of this “guaranteed” 2009 funding over to USDA for computer upgrades…
Read MoreINSIDE ORGANIC: National Organic Program Is Undermining Materials Review Authority Granted to the NOSB to Help Define Organic and Guarantee Its Integrity (Sept/Oct 08)
by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Sept/Oct 2008 The authority Congress gave the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to help define organic and guarantee organic integrity is being seriously eroded by National Organic Program (NOP) actions involving approval of materials for the National List of substances allowed in organic production. Worse yet the NOSB,…
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