Kathleen Merrigan was a key player in the legislative creation of a National Organic Standard. Passage of a national organic standard had to be accomplished without the help of the United States Department of Agriculture. Fortunately, Merrigan had the support of the Texas Department of Agriculture. Kathleen Merrigan hailed from Massachusetts. For some bizarre reason, she went “abroad” and enrolled […]
Organic Blog 5 Keith Jones
This is the fifth blog on the subject of Texas creating the first organic label. Please read the first 4 which explains the background of organics in Texas. Once the process of organic certification had been set up, someone needed to enforce it. In Texas, that someone was Keith Jones. “I was looking to get back into agriculture. I […]
Texas Organic Label part 3
Hightower, in his crusade to save the family farmer, focused on efforts to market higher value-added food products in niche markets, markets that wouldn’t interest the big commodity farmers and the big agribusinesses. Organic vegetables, organic grains, and organic meats were seen as one of those efforts. Growing food organically also just happens to aid the reduction of exposure to […]
Texas Organic Label part 1
Texas has Bragging Rights to the First Organic Label in the United States Yep! Texas! Who would have thunk it. Texas! First in the nation! Wait a minute!!. What?? The first? Yes…dear readers. Texas has bragging rights! Yet you won’t hear the current Agriculture Commissioner ever mention it, nor will you hear it from any of the Ag. Commissioners […]
Texas Organic Label First in Nation
First Texas official Organic Label Texas was first State to certify an Organic Label for produce. That’s right—TEXAS! In 1987, the Texas Department of Agriculture established an official State label guaranteeing that the produce was organically grown. It is a little known fact. It is so little known that it has almost been completely written out of the history books. […]