1983-2008 Working For Organic Integrity Archives

Descriptions of Roger Blobaum’s Organic and Related Papers on this Website and at the Wisconsin Historical Society

Roger Blobaum is presently in the process of transferring his life long collection of organic movement and related documents to the Wisconsin Historical Society for a national organic archival collection. A portion of the collection is available on this website. It is estimated that the Wisconsin Historical Society will have Roger’s papers archived and available…

Presentation on Global Accreditation of Certifiers, Collaboration with Government Authorities and National Accreditors, and Other Organic Trade Harmonizing Activities of the International Organic Accreditation Service | 2008

By Blobaum, International Organic Accreditation Service, 2008 Website: www.ioas.org Email: [email protected] The IOAS and its services The International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS), a nonprofit sector-specific international body established by IFOAM 10 years ago, works worldwide providing a broad range of servio relating to conformity assessment in organic agriculture.

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…

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…

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…

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…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

INSIDE 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?

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…