USDA Archives · Roger Blobaum

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…

INSIDE 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…

INSIDE 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…

Presentation given in Beijing, China titled “Organic Food Exports from China to the United States” | 2000

Roger Blobaum of Blobaum & Associates, The National Conference on Organic Food Exports, April 25, 2000, in Beijing, China. I. Introduction This presentation includes: (1) a description of the U.S. organic agriculture sector; (2) a description of the U.S. organic market; (3) a description of the current U.S. regulatory framework; (4) a discussion of proposed…

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…

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: 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: 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.…

INSIDE 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…

INSIDE 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…

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: 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…

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: Farm Bill Includes Significant Gains for Organic Farming But Falls Far Short of Achieving an Organic ‘Fair Share’ (July/Aug 08)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · July/Aug 2008 The five-year farm bill that survived a relentless attack on farm subsidy payments and a Presidential veto before becoming law includes important organic farming advances and improvements and higher funding levels for organic programs. Overall, however, the $307 billion initiative does not go nearly far enough…

INSIDE ORGANIC: Controversial Congressional “Oink Oink” Funding Process Is Potential Source of More Organic Program Support (May/June 08)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics · May/June 2008 After doing well in a long campaign to increase support for organic agriculture in the farm bill, organic advocates are looking ahead to USDA implementation of programs with newly mandated funding and the annual push to convince lawmakers who appropriate money annually to do more to…

INSIDE ORGANIC: IFOAM’s Drive to Ditch Its Basic Standards Stirs Up A Global Fight Over Organic Values (March/April 08)

by Roger Blobaum · Inside Organics ·March/April 2008 The organic community’s market expansion vs. organic values debate has heated up worldwide over a determined effort by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) to ditch the basic standards developed over 30 years as the gold standard for organic. The proposal to replace the IFOAM…

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…