OFPA Archives · Roger Blobaum

INSIDE 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…

INSIDE 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…

INSIDE 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…

Remarks at the Organic Valley Reception Washington, D.C. October 2, 2002

I want to thank George Siemon and his colleagues at Organic Valley for arranging this event and for inviting all of us who have worked on organic issues here over the last 13 years or more. I don’t feel we have been any kind of unsung heroes, as George suggests. We got involved, and have…

“The Sixty-Six Points of Darkness” || January 15-16, 1998

The following document lists brief descriptions of key issues flagged by participants at the National Campaign’s January meeting. The rough notes contained sixty-six numbered items (hence the sinister title) but some were redundant and others were really several issues in one. The entries here have attempted to smooth out some of these rough spots, so…

Statement in response to the USDA Organic Livestock Hearing Notice dated Dec. 30, 1993: 1994

Statement by Roger Blobaum, President. Blobaum & Associates, 907 North Tower, 1331 Penn. Ave.. N.W. Washington, DC 20004. Submitted April 4, 1994 In response to USDA Organic Livestock Hearing Notice Dated Dec. 30. 1993 My name is Roger Blobaum and I own and manage a Washington-based consulting firm that provides professional services to organic and…

Biography of Roger Blobaum Director of Americans for Safe Food 1989-1992

Biographical Sketch Roger Blobaum is the director of Americans for Safe Food, a coalition of more than 80 consumer, environmental, farm, and rural advocacy groups working to increase the availability of locally-grown, pesticide-free, and organically-grown food in the marketplace. Americans for Safe Food is a project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest,…

Remarks on the Organic Food Production Act at the Eco-Farm Conference 1992

Remarks by Roger Blobaum Eco-Farm Conference, Asilomar, California January 24, 1992 It feels great to get away from Washington, where nobody seems to be having any fun. Everybody is blaming everybody else for the deficit and the recession and the White House political staff has finally grounded the President and confiscated his passport. This follows…

First Nominations Submitted For the National Organic Standards Board 1990

DECEMBER 31, 1990 From the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association: ChristineJohnson:Own/Operate an Organic Farm Chesapeake Center Farm, Marion Station, MD Walter Ehrhardt Own/Operate an Organic Farm Ehrhardt Organic Farm, Knoxville, MD Roger Blobaum: Public Interest CSPI, Washington, DC Michael Heller: Environmental Protection & Resource Conservation Claggett Farm (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) From the Mississippi Organic…

Organic Food Production Act: Statement to the joint hearing of the Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, & Nutrition Subcommittee and the Department Operations, Research, & Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee House Committee on Agriculture 1990

Statement by Roger Blobaum, Center for Science in the Public Interest Presented at joint hearing of the Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, & Nutrition Subcommittee and the Department Operations, Research, & Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee House Committee on Agriculture Washington, DC June 19, 1990 Mr. Chairman, I am Roger Blobaum, director of the Americans for Safe Food…

Organic Food Production Act: TRANSCRIPT of statement to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture 1990

TRANSCRIPT: STATEMENT OF ROGER BLOBAUM, DIRECTOR, AMERICANS FOR SAFE FOOD, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST, WASHINGTON Mr. BLOBAUM. Mr. Chairman, I am Roger Blobaum, Director of the Americans for Safe Food Project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI is a non-profit organization with about 210,000 members nationwide. We actively…

Organic Food Production Act: TRANSCRIPT of Testimony and Delivery of Petitions to US Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry 1990

Organic Food Production Act TRANSCRIPTS of Testimony and Delivery of Petitions to US Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry March 26, 1990 Mr. Blobaum. Mr. Chairman, the petitions are all here in these boxes and we will just make a token presentation here. These are petitions with 136,000 signatures gathered nationwide by individuals…

Organic Food Production Act S. 2108: Presentation of 136,000 consumer signatures to Senator Patrick Leahy and the Senate Subcommitee on Agriculture 1990

Statement by Roger Blobaum, Center for Science in the Public Interest Presented to the Subcommittee on Research and General Legislation Senate Committee on Agriculture Washington, D.C. March 22, 1990 Mr. Chairman, I am Roger Blobaum, director of the Americans for Safe Food Project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI is a…

Testimony in support of Delegate Hattery’s Bill to establish a Maryland state organic certification and labeling program given to the Environment Matters Committee Maryland House of Delegates 1990

Testimony of Roger Blobaum, Center for Science in the Public Interest Environment Matters Committee Maryland House of Delegates March 6, 1990 My name is Roger Blobaum and I direct a food and agriculture project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in Washington. CSPI is a nonprofit public interest organization that has…

INSIDE 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.

INSIDE 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…

INSIDE 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,…

INSIDE ORGANIC: The NOSB Completes Fifteen Often Bumpy Years Dealing with USDA Facilitating Public Participation and Protecting Organic Integrity (Nov/Dec 07)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Nov/Dec 2007 The National Organic Standards Board, the one-of-a-kind official body that recently completed 15 sometimes bumpy years advising and assisting the U.S. Department of Agriculture in implementing the Organic Foods Production Act, (OFPA) deserves the kind of report card most students dream about. The organic community, like…

INSIDE ORGANIC: Surprise NOP Auditor Visits to Organic Farms and Processors in China is Overdue Response to Concerns About Integrity of Organic Food Imports (Sept 07)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · Sept 2007 Widely publicized reports of Chinese lapses in guaranteeing the safety of its food exports, including press reports raising questions about the integrity of its organic food exports, suggest an urgent need to increase government and industry oversight that will guarantee organic integrity and reassure consumers. The…

INSIDE ORGANIC: Organic Farmers Make Gains in Political Access and Support For Organic Appropriations and Farm Bill Organic Initiatives (May 07)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · May 2007 A series of recent developments strongly suggest that organic farmers and others in the rapidly growing organic sector have gained new political access and support that will enhance their ability to influence both annual organic program funding and the 2007 farm bill process unfolding on Capitol…