After seven years as chief executive, Laura Batcha plans to leave the Organic Trade Association next spring as the industry enjoys record food sales. With sales of $56.5 billion last year, certified organic food accounts for nearly 6 percent of the total U.S. grocery market.
Batcha spearheaded the OTA lawsuit against the USDA for its withdrawal of a regulation setting animal welfare standards for livestock on organic farms in 2017. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in June that the USDA would reconsider the Trump-era withdrawal. The OTA has pressed for a court ruling in the interim. The OTA said the lawsuit “re-started long dormant conversations” with the USDA “and has positioned OTA to lead change on this critical issue going forward.”
Paul Schiefer, an OTA board member, credited Batcha for the trade group’s “spectacular” growth. Batcha, who once founded an organic botanicals business, came to work at OTA as its director of marketing in 2008 and became chief executive in January 2014.