Posts Tagged ‘kathleen merrigan’

The Waste Land: Organic Agriculture during the Bush Years

Part 7: My previous post outlined the improbable circumstances under which the organic community found itself the belle of the ball at the tail end of the Clinton Administration. The combination of vibrant market growth and a national constituency learning how to make its voice heard commanded the attention of the powers that be in [...]

U.S. Adopts National Organic Standards: Victory for All, but…

[Editor's Note: This is part six of Mark Keating's ongoing history of the origins and evolution of organic agriculture; how the organic community and the USDA eventually came together to create the national organic standards; their subsequent implementation; and the fallout felt through to the present day.] “Democracy is the worst form of government you [...]

Genesis of the USDA’s National Organic Program

How the Federal Government came to regulate the organic industry Part 4: My previous column on the history of organic agriculture wrapped up with a look at the burgeoning national market that emerged during the 1980’s. Counterculture back-to-the-landers and die-hard traditionalist farmers were raising crops and livestock without agro-chemicals and growing numbers of consumers were [...]