Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The NCR FSMA Center continues to engage with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the grant cycle: Produce growers, owners, and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small food processors, merchant wholesalers, warehouses, vendors, food hubs, and local farm cooperatives. Non-government organizations (NGOs), fruit and vegetable commodity organizations, community-based organizations, federal and state government partners such as USDA, FDA, Produce Safety Alliance, Produce Safety Network, Food Safety Preventive Control Alliance, Sprout Safety Alliance, National Association for State Departments of Agriculture, and other produce commodity organizations. FSMA trainers recruited from university faculty, staff, extension, non-profits, NGOs, and the state department of agriculture personnel with an established track record of working with the target audiences. Specifically, the NCR FSMA Center has an advisory board that includes farmers, produce processors, regulatory agencies that work specifically with produce, land grant extension personnel (educators), and other groups (such as Food Safety Preventive Control Alliance, Produce Safety Alliance, and Sprout Safety Alliance). Another population is a group called "state leads," which includes one lead person from each of the twelve states within the North Central Region. These individuals were chosen based on their expertise in produce safety and ties to the produce industry. Another population, the NCR FSMA Center, serves is Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Lead Trainers and Trainers. These individuals work for a land grant extension program, non-profit, commodity group, or government agency tied to produce safety. Another group produces safety regulators. These individuals are from State Departments of Agriculture or State Departments of Health that are charged with inspection and education of the produce industry. Growers are the last population that is reached. Within the North Central Region, fruit, vegetable, and nut growers and associated organizations are the main target of the education provided by partners. In addition to the general produce grower and processor population, special efforts are made to reach the: Plain clothes growers (Amish and Mennonites), Hmong, African, and Hispanic/Latin(x) growers. These efforts include attending targeted conferences and community events and providing educational and/or technical assistance sessions, working through regional and state-based non-profit organizations who assist/educate these populations and working with extension personnel who have projects or partnerships with these populations. Changes/Problems:Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Produce Safety Alliance, Advanced Training workshop hosted by the Produce Safety Alliance and the Southern Center was canceled. This workshop will not resume until the Fall of 2022 and not be offered to other regions until the Spring or Summer 2023. As a result, two Environmental Monitoring Workshops were provided. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?There were three professional development events within the North Central Region in the summer of 2022. The first event was a virtual, Train the Trainer Bridging the GAPs: Approaches for Treating Preharvest Agricultural Water On-Farm on May 19th and 20th, 2022. This training has been provided within all the other regions within the United States, so this was the first offering for education. Thirty participants took part in the two-1/2 day virtual session. The second and third events were virtual, Environmental Monitoring short courses on June 28th and 30th, 2022, and August 23rd and 25th, 2022. This two-day,½ day event, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, allowed 22 participants to learn more about implementing and interpreting monitoring data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?NCR FSMA Center staff has disseminated the results from this study in general through the monthly NCR FSMA newsletter, monthly listening sessions with educators and regulators and industry, the NCR FSMA Facebook page, and the Annual NCR FSMA Center Conference in March 2022. The mini-grant project results were shared through listening sessions in January and February 2022 and the fall of 2022. The long-term behavioral change study results will occur through a peer-reviewed journal article which will be submitted for review in October 2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This grant has concluded August 31st, 2022.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The primary goals of the no-cost extension portion of this grant were to focus on professional development for educators, a long-term behavioral assessment of produce growers who took produce safety trainings more than four years ago, and mini-grants for niche audience projects. The overarching goal of this project is to support the infrastructure of the national food safety program by communicating and coordinating information within the North Central Region related to the Food Safety Modernization Act's (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule and Preventive Control Rule. Professional Development Stakeholder Engagement Trainings: With the assistance of Philip Tocco at Michigan State University and Byron Chaves-Elizondo at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a series of stakeholder focus group meetings to assist with the development of (2 for growers and 2 for processors) occurred in the fall of 2021 and spring 2022. In addition, professional development opportunities were planned and executed within the NCR utilizing NCR partners and other regional partners. During these sessions with processors and growers, the educational needs of the industry were discussed, and plans for listening session topics were planned. Professional Development Trainings for Educators: The first event was the Train the Trainer Bridging the GAPs: Approaches for Treating Preharvest Agricultural Water On-Farm. These two ½-day virtual sessions with extension specialists from across the United States has a course goal of teaching participants about different approaches to treating water on-farm, how to implement these systems to meet the Produce Safety Rule, and how to verify that the system is operating as intended. Course materials were mailed to each participating workshop member, and attendance was capped at 30 participants. This course occurred on May 19th and 20th, 2022. Due to COVID-19, the planned Produce Safety Alliance Advanced Training workshop could not be accomplished. As a result, two other workshops were planned. The second event was a virtual, Environmental Monitoring short course on June 28th and 30th, 2022. Hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, this two-day, ½ day event allowed 12 participants to learn more about implementing and interpreting monitoring data. Due to the high demand for this course, the second session of this course was offered on August 23rd and 25th, 2022, to 10 participants. The second planned event was an in-person Water Day Event on June 16th and 17th, 2022, but it was cancelled due to low registration numbers. With the support of the FDA and Purdue University, this hands-on workshop was planned to showcase the FDA Water Assessment Tool. During this workshop, participants could be on-farm at the Purdue Student Farm and see two different water sources to evaluate. Participants would be able to operate a mobile water treatment cart designed by Purdue University and learn more about how to treat agricultural water safely. Two events have been planned for the fall of 2022 in place of this opportunity. The first professional development opportunity was on September 19th, 2022, in the form of a virtual meeting to discuss the pre-harvest water compliance dates. In collaboration with FDA Kristin Esch, this session helped educators and regulators clearly understand the proposed rule and how to prepare comments. The second professional development opportunity occurred on October 4th and 5th in Vincennes, Indiana. This two-day in-person professional development opportunity will focus on produce agricultural water including a farm tour, hands-on activities, demonstrations, and classroom talks from researchers and FDA. The opportunities will be reported in the NCR FSMA 3.0 year 1 annual grant. Long-Term Behavioral Change Interviews: Led by Arlene Enderton, Program Coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Local Foods Program, the team completed a long-term behavioral change study that includes in-depth interviews with growers within all 12 states in the NCR. This study evaluated what behavioral changes have occurred with growers who took the Produce Safety Alliance training in 2017 and 2018 (the first two years of the offering). This project required time for Interview Question Development, Human Subject Approval, recruitment of participants, and interviewing 50 growers. One member traveled to interview several participants because they do not utilize electronics. Researchers from Iowa (n=4) and Minnesota (n=1), along with two undergraduate students at Iowa State University, dedicated seven months (November 2021 through June 2022) to this project. This team of researchers has met bi-monthly throughout this time to discuss this project and analyze the data. The data collection and data analysis for this project is completed. The final peer-review journal article is in draft form and will be submitted for publication in October 2022. USDA FSOP has been acknowledged in this journal article. Mini Grants to support Niche Audiences: The NCR FSMA Center offered a second round of mini-grant funding for submission on August 20th, 2021. An award was granted for $4,500 to a team in Michigan to develop a Farm Worker Texting Service Translation to Spanish. The outcome of this project was that farm workers were exposed to on-farm produce safety information in their native tongue. This group presented their results on January 20th, 2022, during the NCR FSMA Center listening session. The NCR FSMA Center offered a third round of mini grants which yielded two new interdisciplinary projects. The center has made efforts to ensure that state-specific produce industry food safety needs are met. Educators have indicated a need for more mini grants to support niche audiences in producing industry efforts. Two mini-grant applications were received by the deadline on September 8th, 2021. All met the requirements and were funded. Each mini grant requested $6,000. The first recipient designed three technology non-chemical solutions to cleaning tools and equipment affordable for very small and small growers. He traveled around the mid-west to test the design on growers to gain feedback. This group presented their results on March 17th, 2022, during the NCR FSMA Center listening session. The second recipient designed a licensed kitchen's mobile processing cart for fruit and vegetable processors. This project supports new and existing small-scale businesses that desire to increase their processing capacity. Due to scheduling conflicts with NCR FSMA Center listening sessions, this recipient will present their results in fall 2022. The short term impacts of this no-cost extension were: Increase the opportunities for produce growers and processor educators to gain more produce safety knowledge through professional development. The evaluations of the train the trainer Water workshop and the Environmental Monitoring Short course professional development events showed that participants increased their knowledge and had information to share To determine the impact of the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training four or five years after the training, the long-term behavioral change study showed that growers have positively made behavioral, knowledge, and attitude changes toward food safety. The specific impacts will be highlighted in the peer-review journal article. To ensure that the educational food safety needs of produce growers and processes are met through grant opportunities, the two awarded mini-grant applicants have developed practical solutions to cleaning and processing in a safe manner that is affordable to very small and small businesses.

Publications

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The NCR FSMA Center continues to engage with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the grant cycle: Produce growers, owners, and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small food processors, merchant wholesalers, warehouses, vendors, food hubs, and local farm cooperatives. Non-government organizations (NGOs), fruit and vegetable commodity organizations, community-based organizations, federal and state government partners such as USDA, FDA, Produce Safety Alliance, Produce Safety Network, Food Safety Preventive Control Alliance, Sprout Safety Alliance, National Association for State Departments of Agriculture, and other produce commodity organizations. FSMA trainers recruited from university faculty, staff, extension, non-profits, NGOs, and the state department of agriculture personnel with an established track record of working with the target audiences. Specifically, the NCR FSMA Center has an advisory board that includes farmers, produce processors, regulatory agencies that work specifically with produce, land grant extension personnel (educators), and other groups (such as Food Safety Preventive Control Alliance, Produce Safety Alliance, and Sprout Safety Alliance). Another population is a group called "state leads," which includes one lead person from each of the twelve states within the North Central Region. These individuals were chosen based on their expertise in produce safety and ties to the produce industry. Another population, the NCR FSMA Center, serves is Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Lead Trainers and Trainers. These individuals work for a land grant extension program, non-profit, commodity group, or government agency tied to produce safety. Another group is produce safety regulators. These individuals are from State Departments of Agriculture or State Departments of Health that are charged with inspection and education of the produce industry. Growers are the last population that is reached. Within the North Central Region, fruit, vegetable, and nut growers and associated organizations are the main target of the education provided by partners. In addition to the general produce grower and processor population, special efforts are made to reach the: Plain clothes growers (Amish and Mennonites), Hmong, African, and Hispanic/Latin(x) growers. These efforts include attending targeted conferences and community events and providing educational sessions and/or technical assistant sessions, working through regional and state based non-profit organizations who assist/educate these populations and working with extension personnel who have working projects or partnerships with these populations. Examples include 1) University of Minnesota and the Hmong population. Annalisa Hultburg at the University of Minnesota has had multiple grant awards and programs (i.e., GAPs, National Organic Standard) working with the Hmong population of growers. Produce Safety Alliance Grower trainings was offered to this population through this work. 2)The Ohio State University, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Michigan State University, Produce Safety Alliance, and Plain clothes growers (Amish or Mennonite) population. In partnership with Penn State University (Luke LaBorde), multiple members of the NCR FSMA Center were able to pilot the no-technology-based flip chart curriculum within the North Central Region states. This curriculum is culturally appropriate and received positive feedback. Additionally, through these partnerships, more states such as Iowa, were able to further connect with their Plain clothes populations and provide additional Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training and technical assistance to this special population. Changes/Problems:Based on feedback from the communication survey and the advisory board, the newsletter remains in a pdf format, and a switch to a web-based model was not adopted. Due to delays from the FDA release of the Guidance on Alternate Curriculum, the procedure for reviewing materials was delayed. Changes to the finance systems and staffing structures at Iowa State University caused delays in partner payments and budget reports. Changes in the USDA staff and relocations in 2019 caused delays for FSOP awardees and their reporting to the NCR FSMA Center and Lead Regional Center. The ongoing pandemic meant few in-person events or travel. PI Joe Hannan resigned from his position at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in June 2021. His responsibilities were transferred to Dr. Angela Shaw, as she became the new PI. Dr. Lakshman Rajagopal changed his name to Dr. Anirudh Naig in October 2019. This report covers the time before and after the change and includes both names. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The NCR has funded attendance at virtual trainings and conferences for several individuals. The monthly listening sessions provide information on specific topics, as do the monthly calls for regulators and inventory managers. At the NCR FSMA Center's annual conferences, attendees heard speakers and participated in scenario discussions that provided professional development. The NCR FSMA Center helped organize meetings for PSA trainers and state inspectors. In the fall of 2018 and 2019, NCR leaders and educators across the region held in-person meetings to help educators/regulators prepare for the upcoming PSA training season. In 2018, the group met in Michigan, and in 2019, they met in Minneapolis, MN. Twenty-five people attended the 2019 meeting in-person, and twenty people attended online (for at least part of the event). The meetings were intended to build educator capacity going into the training season and foster relationships across the region with educators and regulators. The NCR FSMA Center supported the 2019 event by covering travel expenses for Dr. Don Stoeckel (PSA), Phil Tocco (MSU), and Annalisa Hultberg (UM). Because of the pandemic, there was no meeting held in fall 2020, but the NCR FSMA Center did promote the virtual trainings that the PSA held. There were three professional development events within the North Central Region in the summer of 2022. The first event was a virtual, Train the Trainer Bridging the GAPs: Approaches for Treating Preharvest Agricultural Water On-Farm on May 19th and 20th, 2022. This training has been provided within all the other regions within the United States, so this was the first offering for education. Thirty participants took part in the two-1/2 day virtual session. The second and third events were virtual, Environmental Monitoring short courses on June 28th and 30th, 2022, and August 23rd and 25th, 2022. This two-day,½ day event, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, allowed 22 participants to learn more about implementing and interpreting monitoring data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?NCR FSMA Center staff have disseminated results through journal articles, webinars, in-person meetings, virtual annual conferences, social media, and the website. NCR staff attended regional grower conferences (both in-person and virtual). The goal was to disseminate resources and information to 1200 growers. This was not met due to the pandemic canceling most in-person meetings and virtual meetings having fewer opportunities to interact with growers. The best estimates, we reached 700 growers. The project aimed to share with 100 educators over three years. This goal was met by the 187 people who attended a listening session/webinar and the 197 who received the newsletter. They are not all formal educators, but all are involved in sharing produce safety information with their networks. Inspectors are included in this list because of their mantra to "educate before and while they educate." The goal to disseminate information to ten government bodies was met through inspector and inventory meetings and communication with departments of agriculture/health in ten of the twelve North Central Region states. The NCR FSMA Center submitted a poster on the alternate curriculum review process and highlighted the success stories for the NASDA virtual conference. The website has been a major area for dissemination. Below are some statistics based on the year for the ncrfsma.org website. There has been an increase in the attraction to the website over the years. 2018-Likes: 57; Reach 13.5; Shares: 1 2019-Likes: 124; Reach 2550; Shares: 350 2020-Likes: 144; Reach 13; Shares: 11 2021-Likes: 156; Reach 52; Shares: 23 2022-Likes: 201; Reach 105; Shares: 104 Below is a list of events. Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Rajagopal, L., and Enderton, A. 2018. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Southern Region Integrated Produce Safety Conference. Atlanta, Georgia. Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Rajagopal, R., and Enderton, A. 2018. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Local Foods Conference. Brookings, South Dakota. Shaw, A. 2019. FSMA Produce, Processing, and Holding. Ohio Produce Network. Dublin, Ohio. Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Rajagopal, L., and Enderton, A. 2019. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. NECEF Meeting. Albany, New York. Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Rajagopal, L., and Enderton, A. 2019. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Western FSMA Center Meeting. Portland, Oregon. Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. December 2019. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. National Farmers Union Advisory Board. Washington D.C. Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Rajagopal, L., and Enderton, A. 2019. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical. Indiana Horticulture Congress. Indianapolis, Indiana. Bhullar, M., Shaw, A., Hannan, J., and Andrews, S. 2020. Extending the holding time for agricultural water testing method EPA 1603 for produce growers. Water: 11 (10): 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11102020 Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. February 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. NDFMGA and Local Foods Conference. Bismark, North Dakota. Johnsen, E., Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Naig, A., and Enderton, A., January 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Southern Region Annual Conference. Savannah, Georgia Shaw, A. January 2020. Advanced Produce Safety Alliance Training. Southern Region Integrated Produce Safety Conference. Florida Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Naig, A., and Enderton, A., February 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Northeast FSMA Center Legal Meeting. Boston, Massachusetts Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. May 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Western FSMA Center Meeting. Virtual. Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. August 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Food Safety Outreach Program Directors Meeting. Virtual. Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Rajagopal, R. Enderton, A., and E. Johnsen. December 2020. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. National Association for State Department of Agriculture National Consortium for Food Safety. Virtual. Johnsen, E., and A. Shaw. October 2021. NCR FSMA Expectations for FSOP Awardees. USDA Food Safety Outreach Program Grant Kickoff Webinar for FY 2021 FSOP Awardees. Shaw, A., Enderton, A. and E. Johnsen. December 2021. North Central Region Center for FSMA Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance: Impact of Produce Safety Alliance Grower Trainings in the North Central Region. National Association for State Department of Agriculture National Consortium for Food Safety. Virtual. Johnsen, E. and A. Shaw. January 2022. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Southern Region Annual Conference. Virtual. Johnsen, E. and A. Shaw. January 2022. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Northeast FSMA Center. Virtual. Johnsen, E. and A. Shaw. May 2022. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Western FSMA Center Meeting. New Mexico. Shaw, A. and E. Johnsen. May 2022. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. FSOP Project Director Meeting, Orlando, Florida What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1. The NCR FSMA Center (referred to as The Center) has successfully expanded its produce safety network of educators, growers, and processors, state and commodity organizations, government and non-government bodies, and current and previous food safety outreach grant awardees within the region. The Center has established a 197-member database (128 at the beginning of the grant). It is updated as necessary and includes separate lists for state inspectors and those in charge of state inventories. Tracking "membership" in the NCR was difficult, given the frequent job changes in the industry. To the best estimate, 57 people on the 197-member mailing list have not attended one of our meetings, which is below the 90% goal. This goal could have been met simply by removing names from the database who hadn't attended an event in the previous year, but we choose to keep them on the list to encourage future participation and increases the chances that information will get to those who could use it. The dual leadership approach of the Center has allowed the leadership team to expand our partnerships with stakeholders through participation at conferences, meetings, and field days. The Center made Stakeholder Inclusion a key goal. Several growers and processors served on the advisory board and attended listening sessions. Other groups were engaged indirectly through the Center partners' work, the mini-grant projects, and improved training/technical assistance through collaboration. NGOs and commodity groups were reached through involvement in the state/regional grower meetings. The Center staff engaged directly with the team from the many government centers. Several of these organizations presented at listening sessions, and their staff attended other centers' meetings. FSMA trainers comprise a large percentage of the Center's partners and these individuals are affiliated with local non-profits or national groups. Objective 2: The NCR FSMA Center uses a variety of platforms and methods to facilitate sharing across the NCR produce safety network. The Center offers listening sessions for educators and regulators every month. These are recorded and posted on the Center website. The Center also coordinates calls for state inspectors and those in charge of their states' grower inventory. The Center publishes a monthly ADA-compliant newsletter which 197 individuals receive. The Center established an advisory board that met 3-4 times each year. These communication tools and methods help ensure uniformity of rule application across the region. The communication survey sent out in 2018 had a 19% response rate, slightly below the 25% goal. The website, newsletter, and social media were integrated into the dissemination plan. The evaluation was completed by Arlene Enderton and provided in a yearly evaluation report. Objective 3: The NCR FSMA Center provides support to each of the FSOP grantees as well as those teams applying for funding. The FSOP Liaison, Naig, reached out to all FSOP awardees to establish a communication plan with the Center. The FSOP Liaison also sought to identify which projects, if any, would have add-on or alternate curricula that would need to be reviewed. The Center promoted each yearly RFA through the website, Facebook, and newsletters. The Center provided letters of support for projects seeking funding. Webinars to help applicants with the FSOP applications were promoted. NCR FSMA Center leadership helped connect potential partners to collaborate on new FSOP applications. Specifically, all FSOP awardees were invited to present at NCR FSMA Center's annual conferences, listening sessions, and national meetings. None of the FSOP-developed materials were alternate curricula or add-on materials. One FSOP awardee in 2020 reported reaching underserved audiences: socially disadvantaged farmers, small farmers, small processors, and potential entrepreneurs. In 2019, 6 of 8 awardees reported serving underserved audiences, reaching 13 types of audiences. Objective 4: FSMA add-on materials-This process was finalized and managed by the Western Regional Center in the winter of 2021, and a database of North Central Region reviewers was created for individuals willing to review documents and their areas of expertise. A resource from Michigan State Extension was one of the first to finish the review process. Members from the NCR completed three reviews based on their time and expertise. Alternate Curricula: In partnership with FDA officials and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, procedures and supporting documentation have been created for the Alternate Curriculum Review Process. This process was concluded in March 2022. This is detailed in the Other Products section. Objective 5: The Center implemented a new FSMA trainer program, developed an FSMA trainer mentorship program; provided honorariums to gain educational support, conducted non-formal FSMA trainer needs assessments, and developed FSMA trainer professional development curricula. Virtual and in-person meetings organized by the NCR FSMA Center provide opportunities for educators and regulators to ask fellow produce safety experts for advice to take back to their state's growers/processors. The NCR FSMA Center evaluator shares reports of the PSA Grower Training Knowledge Assessment and One-Year Follow-Up survey. Educators can use these to determine the effectiveness of educators in leading the PSA course. Funds are provided for individuals to attend trainings and meetings. A specific page for educators was added to the NCR FSMA website in May 2019 (https://www.ncrfsma.org/educators). The Center staff hoped to engage with 50% of identified new FSMA trainers and support 25% of identified mentees. As the names of new trainers were shared with the NCR FSMA Center, staff sent welcome emails and added their names to the mailing list. Those requesting mentors were matched (3 total). A professional development team utilized focus groups, listening sessions, and annual conferences to understand the needs are for the stakeholder groups. See Other Products for a list of these events. Objective 6: Most of the technical assistance to growers, processors, and vendors happens indirectly through NCR educators and regulations. Contact information for the state leads are listed on the Center's website. Neither the Q&A portal nor the search FAQ database was developed for the website due to the presence of the Clearinghouse availability. We utilize the listening sessions and ad hoc meetings to discuss the topical needs of these populations and get answers through each other. For example, if an educator shares complicated situations during a listening session and the group of educators and inspectors problem solve and then the educator takes that information back to their client. Additionally, when regulators discuss the intricacies of the Rule during a meeting, they provide educators with a better insight into the implementation of the rule in real life problem solving with clientele. The Center's website hosts add-on documents for educators and stakeholders to download. These products were also shared on the Clearinghouse for national exposure. Resources developed by the Center in NCR FSMA 1.0 were updated as needed. The Center staff have directly participated in/led educational sessions at grower conferences around the Midwest. The NCR FSMA Center staff attended many national and regional conferences to bring back information to the region. They also participated in national meetings, including advisory boards for the Local Food Safety Collaborative and the legal questions working group through NECAFS. There was also a continuity plan, collaboration plan, and evaluation plan completed. See Other Products for details on each of these.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bhullar, M., Shaw, A., Hannan, J., and Andrews, S. 2020. Extending the holding time for agricultural water testing method EPA 1603 for produce growers. Water: 11 (10): 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11102020

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The NCR FSMA Center engages with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the grant cycle, including: produce growers, owners, and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small food processors, merchant wholesalers, warehouses, vendors, food hubs, and local farm cooperatives through the advisory board representatives. The NCR FSMA Center also interacts with non-government organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations, federal and state government partners such as USDA and FDA, Produce Safety Alliance, Produce Safety Network, Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, Sprout Safety Alliance, National Association for State Departments of Agriculture, and other produce commodity organizations. Specifically, the NCR FSMA Center has an advisory board that includes farmers, produce processors, staff at regulatory agencies who work specifically with produce, land grant extension personnel (educators), and representatives from other groups (such as Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, Produce Safety Alliance, and Sprout Safety Alliance). The "state leads" group includes one lead person from each of the twelve states within the North Central Region. These individuals were chosen based on their expertise with produce safety and ties to the produce industry within their state, and they are a direct point of contact between the NCR FSMA Center and the states. The NCR FSMA Center also serves to Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Lead Trainers and Trainers. These individuals work for land grant extension programs, non-profits, commodity groups, or government agencies tied to produce safety. Produce Safety Regulators are from State Departments of Agriculture or State Departments of Health and are charged with inspection and education of the produce industry. Lastly, farmers within the North Central Region of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and their associated organizations are the main target of the education provided by partners. Special efforts are made to reach Amish, Mennonites, Hmong, African, and Hispanic/Latinx growers. Changes/Problems:The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic meant few in-person events or travel. PI Joe Hannan resigned from his position at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in June 2021. His responsibilities were transferred to Dr. Angela Shaw, as she became the new PI. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective 5 of this grant focused on professional development. Professional development has been provided through listening sessions (n=12), inspector meetings (n=12), and inventory meetings (n=12). Funds were provided for individuals to attend virtual trainings and meetings. Virtual and in-person meetings organized by the NCR FSMA Center provide opportunities for educators and regulators to ask fellow produce safety experts for advice to take back to their state's growers/processors. Don Stoeckel assisted with planning the joint Produce Safety Alliance grower training for Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Afterward, he shared a planning document with trainers around the region. Educational sessions were presented at the annual conference in February. Annual conference planning began in September 2020 with the convening of a planning committee. The committee met monthly through the fall and winter. The committee members included Byron Chaves, Kristin Esch, Cal Jamerson, Theresa Klaman, Londa Nwadike, and the NCR FSMA Center team. The annual conference was held on Feb. 11, 18, and 25, 2021. Speakers included Courtenay Simmons, Kristin Esch, Annalisa Hultberg, Phil Tocco, Jordan DeVries, Lisa Gilk, Eko Gardenhire, Faz Shakir, Don Stoeckel, Jason Wan, Shannon Coleman, Byron Chaves, and Arlene Enderton. Scenarios for discussion were developed by Scott Monroe, Vivien McCurdy, Byron Chavez, and Joe Hannan. The scenarios were posted to the NECAFS Clearinghouse. Representatives from the other regional centers also spoke. Social gatherings were held after the conference concluded on Weeks 1 (February 11) and 2 (February 18). Eighty-one people attended at least part of one day, and the average attendance each week was 63. Also part of professional development and training was our mentoring program. The NCR FSMA Center Mentorship program was established to help food safety educators receive technical assistance and professional development in food safety. Mentorship relationships established during Year 2 continued to meet through their year-long commitment. In year 3, the NCR FSMA Center funded mentorship relationships through the Michigan Farmers Union and Michigan growers. To assist with self-guided learning, the NCR FSMA Center's website hosts add-on documents. These are downloaded by educators and growers/processors/vendors. The documents are also shared on the Produce Safety Clearinghouse for national exposure. NCR FSMA Center staff has directly participated/led educational sessions at grower conferences around the Midwest. The NCR FSMA Center also provided mini-grants to individuals working with underserved produce communities within the region. Five mini-grant applications were received and were funded. Amounts ranged from $2500-$6000. Projects funded included translating videos/webinars, creating resources, and creating a needs assessment. The recipients all presented during listening sessions (except the one who canceled due to a family emergency). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The NCR FSMA Center submitted a poster on the alternate curriculum review process and highlighting the success stories for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) virtual conference. Joe Hannan presented at the NASDA consortium. NCR FSMA Center staff attended regional virtual conferences. Monthly meetings with the National FSMA Center, Southern Center, Northeast Center, and Western Center allowed disseminating results to the national level. At the center's annual conferences, the NCR FSMA Center provided updates on what was happening with the center. Monthly listening sessions and a newsletter allowed the NCR FSMA Center members to learn about what is happening with the center and partners within the center. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We were granted a one yearno cost extension which will focus on professional development for educators, produce growers, and produce handlers, a long term behavioral assessment of produce growers who took produce safety trainings in more than 4 years ago, and mini-grants for niche audience projects. Additional time is requested for Dr. Shaw to oversea the completion of the below activities. The following will be outputs from this no-cost extension Professional Development Stakeholder Engagement Trainings: With the assistance of Philip Tocco at Michigan State University and Byron Chaves-Elizondo at University of Nebraska-Lincoln a series of stakeholder focus group meetings (2 for growers and 2 for processors) and fall and spring professional development trainings will occur. Supplies, printing, and postage will be required to support these trainings and engagement opportunities. Monies are also requested to provide honorariums to produce industry growers and processors that assist with the stakeholder focus groups. Professional Development Trainings for Educators: To support these efforts, Angela Shaw will need to travel to Oregon State University, University of Florida, and Michigan State University. Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions professional development workshops for educators were not conducted in year 2 and 3. As a result, we propose to host 1 in-person and 1 virtual workshop for educators as follows: Train the Trainer Bridging the GAPs: Approaches for Treating Preharvest Agricultural Water On-Farm. Fruit and vegetable growers are continually assessing their operations to determine where they can limit risk and increase productivity. As a result, many have expressed interest in learning more about how on-farm preharvest water treatment systems work and how they may fit within their current setup. Come for two, ½-day virtual sessions with extension specialists from across the United States to gain exposure to this newly developed curriculum so that you may offer it to your stakeholders. Goals of the course are to teach participants about different approaches to treating water on-farm; how to implement these systems to meet requirements of the Produce Safety Rule; and how to verify that the system is operating as intended. This course is taught virtually via Zoom platform and includes ten presenters. Course materials are mailed to each participating member of the workshop and attendance is capped at 30 participants. The course will be offered in Winter 2021/2022. The Produce Safety Alliance Advanced Training workshop is a collaboration between the Produce Safety Alliance and the Southern Center. This three-day workshop is geared toward trainers and lead trainers of the PSA curriculum. Micro 101, Soil Amendments and Animals, Pre-Harvest Water, Instructor Tips for Participant Engagement, Post-Harvest Water, and Sanitation will each have a half-day full of lecture, hands-on activities, and breakouts. The goal of this training is to provide attendees with more in-depth scientific understanding of the Produce Safety Rule to better train growers. At minimum, individuals must have attended the PSA Train-the-Trainer Course prior to attending the advanced workshop. The in-person course that will be held is the Advanced Produce Safety Alliance workshop. This workshop was piloted with the Southern Regional Center and a few members of the North Central Regional Center were in attendance. This course caps attendance at 25 participants. Long Term Behavioral Change Interviews: Lead by Arlene Enderton, Program Coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Local Foods Program, we desired to complete a long-term behavioral change study that includes in-depth interviews with growers within all 12 states in the NCR. This effort did not occur due to Virtual Fatigue to participants in year 3 of the grant. Lead by Arlene Enderton, this study will evaluate what behavioral changes have occurred with growers who took the Produce Safety Alliance training in 2017 and 2018 (the first 2 years of the offering). This will require time for Interview Question Development, Human Subject Approval, recruitment of participants, and interviewing at least 50 growers. This estimate is based on Produce Safety Alliance Grower training number of 860 participants and a 5% interview rate. To complete this task, Arlene Enderton with the assistance of two undergraduate students will dedicate 4 months and 1 summer intern to the completion of this project. Mini Grants to support Niche Audiences: The NCR FSMA Center is offering these mini-grants which have yielded 6 new projects. Efforts have been made by the center to ensure that state specific produce industry food safety needs are met. Educators have indicated a need for more mini grants to support niche audience in produce industry efforts. These mini grant desires to yield sponsorship of at least four projects, which include Preventive Control for Human Food processor add-on materials, survey of the Good Manufacturing Practice needs for produce processors, project to develop Cottage Foods made from produce and educational materials, and translation of produce safety materials into Spanish. As part of this effort, peer-review of all developed materials will occur. This peer review process was developed by Oregon State University, Western FSMA Center and has been utilized for the past year to ensure that accurate extension materials are provided to the produce industry and educators. All four of these activities are consistent with the objectives of this grant and will be completed within the 1 year no cost extension plan.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Expand the successfully established produce safety network within the North Central Region: We have 197 members in the database as of August 2021. New members are added as people join the network or start new jobs. The website, www.ncrfsma.org, focuses explicitly on the objectives for this project, integrates the NCR FSMA Center Facebook feed, highlights our partner organizations, provides resources for trainers, and hosts Alternate Curriculum review materials. Updates are added as needed. Between Sept 2020 and Aug 2021, the website was visited 2810 times, with 1982 unique visitors. There have been 565 document downloads; the most popular were the pre-harvest training guide and the knowledge assessment results. Objective 2: Develop and implement a communication system: The NCR FSMA Center PI, co-PI, and leads for each of the objectives met six times from august 2020 through august 2021 to discuss the progress and outcomes of the grant. The project evaluator, Arlene Enderton, attended these meetings to observe the progress toward milestones within the grant. PI and co-PI also met with the other regional centers once a month to communicate the outputs from the center and learn about happenings within the other centers. The NCR FSMA Center uses a variety of platforms and methods to facilitate information sharing across the North Central Region produce safety network, including a monthly newsletter and monthly listening sessions. An annual conference was also conducted to facilitate sharing of information and professional development for a wide array of members. NCR state inspectors meet monthly to ensure inspection consistency from state to state within the region and develop state farm inventories. All of these communication tools and methods help ensure uniformity of rule application across the region. Success stories have been developed to demonstrate the impact of the NCR FSMA Center. In year 3, Annalisa Hultberg from Minnesota and Londa Nwadike from Missouri completed success stories for projects in their states. There are 16 completed in the past 3 years of the NCR FSMA Center. Objective 3: Support for Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) Awards: The NCR FSMA Center provides support to each of the FSOP grantees and those teams applying for funding. The FSOP Liaison, Dr. Anirudh Rajagopal Naig, helps project directors spread the knowledge gained from individual projects with others across the region and the county. In addition, the FSOP Liaison is available to support project directors seeking review of add-on materials or Alternate Curriculum. In 2019, six NCR members received FSOP awards and in2020, four NCR members received FSOP awards. Webinars to help applicants with the FSOP applications were promoted and the centerhelped connect potential partners to collaborators. The FSOP recipients shared project resultsat listening sessions in winter 2021. Specifically, Londa Nwadike (January 2021), Shannon Coleman, Jason Grimm, and Claire Zabel (March 2021), and Byron Chaves, Cindy Borgwordt, and Janssen Hang (April 2021). In June 2021, all the Regional Centers hosted an FSOP webinar. In this webinar, project outcomes by Byron Chaves-Elizondo (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Cindy Borgwordt (Lincoln University), and Annalisa Hultberg (Minnesota), from the NCR was highlighted. Within the NCR FSMA Center, nine FSOP awardees completed the 2020 FSOP Annual Evaluation. FSOP awardee reported projects to address small food processors and fresh fruits and vegetables. Objective 4: Review of FSMA add-on materials and Alternate Curricula: The review of the FSMA add-on process was finalized in the winter of 2021. A resource from Michigan State Extension was one of the first to finish the review process through the Western Center. The first North Central Region reviewers were recruited in April. All three completed their reviews promptly and were compensated for their time and expertise. For the Alternate Curricula, in year 2 of this grant, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NCSAC) developed an Alternate Curriculum. Along with NCR FSMA Center, the FDA reviewed the curriculum and sent it back to NCSAC for corrections. During year 3, NCR FSMA Center reviewed six updated modules of the NCSAC curriculum. This curriculum is still under review. Objective 5: Professional development for a cadre of regional FSMA trainers: Professional development has been provided through listening sessions (n=12), inspector meetings (n=12), and inventory meetings (n=12). Virtual and in-person meetings organized by the NCR FSMA Center provide opportunities for educators and regulators to ask fellow produce safety experts for advice to take back to their state's growers/processors. Don Stoeckel assisted with planning the joint Produce Safety Alliance grower training for Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota andshared a planning document with trainers around the region. The annual conference was held on Feb. 11, 18, and 25, 2021 as part of professional development. Speakers included Courtenay Simmons, Kristin Esch, Annalisa Hultberg, Phil Tocco, Jordan DeVries, Lisa Gilk, Eko Gardenhire, Faz Shakir, Don Stoeckel, Jason Wan, Shannon Coleman, Byron Chaves, and Arlene Enderton. Scenarios for discussion were developed by Scott Monroe, Vivien McCurdy, Byron Chavez, and Joe Hannan. Representatives from the other regional centers also spoke. Social gatherings were held after the conference concluded on Weeks 1 (February 11) and 2 (February 18). Eighty-one people attended at least part of one day, and the average attendance each week was 63. Objective 6: Technical assistance to growers, processors, and vendors in the North Central Region: The NCR FSMA Center's website hosts add-on documents. These are downloaded by educators and growers/processors/vendors. The documents are also shared on the Produce Safety Clearinghouse for national exposure. NCR FSMA Center staff has directly participated/led educational sessions at grower conferences around the Midwest. The NCR FSMA Center provided mini-grants to individuals working with underserved produce communities within the region to support technical assistance. Five mini-grant applications were received and were funded. Projects funded included translating videos/webinars, creating resources, and creating a needs assessment. All but one recipient was presented during listening sessions. The NCR FSMA Center Mentorship program helps food safety educators receive technical assistance and professional development in food safety. Mentorship relationships established during Year 2 continued to meet in year 3. In year 3, the NCR FSMA Center funded mentorship relationships between the Michigan Farmers Union and Michigan growers. The educator sharing program is another program that the NCR FSMA Center utilizes to assist with technical assistance. This program provides small honorariums to assist with sharing Produce Safety Alliance Lead Trainers across state lines. Because most Produce Safety Alliance trainings were held remotely this year, there were no travel expenses for trainers to assist with other state events. However, the NCR FSMA Center did help pay for Minnesota to hire trainers from outside their state to lead modules at their remote trainings. Additionally, the NCR FSMA Center project coordinator assisted with joint Produce Safety Alliance grower training throughout the region. Partners from Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota held joint training for their growers. Kansas and Missouri also held joint trainings. The NCR FSMA Center has provided funds for other collaborative remote Produce Safety Alliance grower trainings. The NCR FSMA Center helped cover the cost of manuals, shipping, and certificates for Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin when growers from other North Central Region states attended their remote trainings.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: 2020-2021 Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Knowledge Assessment. Arlene Enderton. https://www.ncrfsma.org/files/page/files/region_ka_report_2021_final_updated_8.6.21.pdf
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: 2021 Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Follow-Up Report. https://www.ncrfsma.org/files/page/files/region_executive_summary_2019-20_training_follow_up_survey_final.pdf
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: 2020 Evaluation Report. Arlene Enderton. https://www.ncrfsma.org/files/news/files/2020_evaluation_report_final.pdf
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: 2020 Impact Report. Arlene Enderton. https://www.ncrfsma.org/files/news/files/2020_impact_report_final.pdf
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: The website, www.ncrfsma.org, focuses explicitly on the objectives for this project, integrates the NCR FSMA Center Facebook feed, highlights our partner organizations, provides resources for trainers, and hosts Alternate Curriculum review materials. Updates are added as needed. Between Sept 2020 and Aug 2021, the website was visited 2810 times, with 1982 unique visitors. There have been 565 document downloads; the most popular were the pre-harvest training guide and the knowledge assessment results.

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The Center engages with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the grant cycle including: produce growers, owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small food processors, merchant wholesalers, warehouses, vendors, food hubs, and local farm cooperatives through the advisory board representatives. The Center also interacts with non-government organizations (NGOs), community based organizations, federal and state government partners such as USDA, FDA, Produce Safety Alliance, Produce Safety Network, Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, Sprout Safety Alliance, National Association for State Departments of Agriculture, and other produce commodity organizations. FSMA trainers recruited from university faculty, staff, and extension, and state departments of agriculture and health personnel with an established track record of working with the target audiences engagewith the Center on a daily basis. Specifically, the NCR FSMA Center has an advisory board that includes farmers, produce processors, staff at regulatory agencies who work specifically with produce, land grant extension personnel (educators), and representatives from other groups (such as Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, Produce Safety Alliance, and Sprout Safety Alliance). The "state leads" group includes one lead person from each of the twelve states within the north central region. These individuals were chosen based on their expertise with produce safety and ties to the produce industry within their state, and they are a direct point of contact between the Center and the state. The Center also serves Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Lead Trainers and Trainers. These individuals work for land grant extension programs, non-profits, commodity groups, or government agencies tied to produce safety. Produce Safety Regulators are from State Departments of Agriculture, State Departments of Health, or equivalent government agency and are charged with inspection and education of the produce industry. Lastly, farmers within the north central region of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and their associated organizations are the main target of the education provided by partners. Special efforts are made to reach Amish, Mennonites, Hmong, Sudanese, African, and Hispanic/Latinx growers. Changes/Problems:Changes to the finance systems and staffing structures at Iowa State University caused delays in partner payments and budget reports. No further delays are expected. Changes in the USDA staff and relocations caused delays for FSOP awardees and their reporting to the NCR FSMA Center and Lead Regional Center. The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled or moved online many events, including the NCR annual conference, mentorship program, national center meeting (was to occur at International Association of Food Protection in August 2020), and NASDA Produce Consortium. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities providing professional development to our constituents as described in section "Other Products" and "Accomplishments" Objective Five include the BSAAO conference and field visit, NBII, monthly listening sessions/webinars, virtual annual conference, inspector consistency meetings, state inventory meetings, new training onboarding documents, mentorship, as well as travel funds for professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Outreach activities extensively described in "Other Products" and under "What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?". This includes journal articles, webinars, in-person meetings, virtual annual conference, NCR FSMA Center staff attending state-wide fruit/vegetable conferences, social media and website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Expand the successfully established produce safety network within the north central region: The NCR FSMA Center has an established mailing list that includes non-profits, academia, government employees, and other groups within the produce safety field. This list is edited as new individuals enter the industry and others leave. As part of this objective, the NCR FSMA Center staff identify new personnel who focus on produce food safety through newsletter and listening session solicitations. This effort will continue into year 3 to ensure new individuals and entities are included in the produce safety network. We will continue to track the activities of participants of NCR FSMA Center members to determine which activities are most beneficial to members. Objective 2: Develop and implement a communication system: Communication will continue in the form of a monthly newsletter and listening session, email communications as needed, and special topics meetings as topics/needs arise. We will survey the network to ensure that the current methods of communication are still appropriate for the group. We will continue to meet virtually with our national partners. Objective 3: Support for Food Safety Outreach Program Awards: As FSOP Awardees start and finish their grant projects, NCR FSMA Center will work to promote the products of this work. There will be another national showcase webinar in December 2020/January 2021 that north central region awardees will be invited to participate in. Awardees will be invited to share their work during monthly listening sessions as well. Awardees will be encouraged to post developed materials to the Clearinghouse. In addition to promoting materials developed by awardees, the center will provide support through the review process lead by the Western Center. Objective 4: Review of FSMA add-on materials and alternate curricula: The FSMA add-on materials process led by the Western Center will begin in fall 2020 and the NCR FSMA Center will work to identify reviewers for this process. The NSAC Alternate Curricula review will continue through April 2021. This process will include a blind review process with external reviewers to ensure the materials are ready for FDA review. Promotion of the Alternate Curricula Review will continue through year 3. Objective 5: Professional development for a cadre of regional FSMA trainers: Opportunities to provide professional development for regional FSMA trainers will continue which includes monthly listening sessions and newsletters, a virtual annual conference, and other ad-hock events. We will continue to identify new FSMA trainers or individuals who wish to become FSMA trainers. Objective 6: Technical assistance to growers, processors, and vendors in the north central region: The NCR FSMA Center will continue to identify FSMA grower/processor resources that are needed and work with team members to identify areas of needs. The Q&A portal will continue to be supported by the NECAFS Center and the NCR FSMA Center will continue to support these efforts. The PSA Grower Training knowledge assessments will continue to be assessed and a comparison between the remote and in-person PSA grower trainings will be completed. Travel to grower meetings around the region will remain halted for the duration of the pandemic.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overarching goal of this project is to support the infrastructure of the national food safety program by communicating and coordinating information within the North Central Region related to the Food Safety Modernization Act's Produce Safety Rule (PSR) and Preventive Control Rule. The interconnectedness of educators and regulators and the new relationships that are formed in the region lead to better-educated and more knowledgeable individuals who are then better equipped to provide technical assistance to businesses across the region. These achievements will result in long-term impacts on the region and the nation, reducing the incidences of foodborne illness and laying the groundwork for a safer food supply through improvement of practices and compliance with the PSR. Objective 1: Expand the successfully established produce safety network within the NCR The NCR FSMA Center has successfully expanded its produce safety network by creating a database sortable by classification educator (PSA and/or FSPCA), regulator, farmer, grower, advisory board member, etc. The list was updated from the preexisting FDA Center database and has grown from 128 people to 191 people since October 2018. The program coordinator tracks involvement of Center-sponsored events to monitor database health. The dual leadership approach of the Center has allowed the team to expand partnerships with stakeholders through participation at regional and national events. This has allowed for sharing of resources regionally at professional development activities. Objective 2: Develop and implement a communication system The NCR FSMA Center uses a variety of platforms and methods to facilitate information sharing across the north central region produce safety network including a monthly newsletter (average 191 recipients), monthly listening sessions (average 33 attendees) and an annual conference (92 attendees) to facilitate sharing of information and professional development for a wide array of members including both those that are fully dedicated to implementing and supporting the FSMA Produce Safety Rule and those for whom this is just one part of their job. And the advisory board and auxiliary education group meet to help guide and direct the center. State inspectors meet monthly to ensure inspectional consistency from state to state within the region and to develop state farm inventories. All of these communication tools and methods help ensure uniformity of rule application across the region. Objective 3: Support for Food Safety Outreach Program Awards The NCR FSMA Center provides support to each of the FSOP grantees as well as those teams applying for funding. The FSOP Liaison, Dr. Anirudh Rajagopal Naig, helps project directors spread knowledge gained from individual projects with others across the region and across the county. In addition, the FSOP Liaison is available to support project directors seeking review of add-on materials or Alternate Curriculum. Objective 4: Review of FSMA add-on materials and Alternate Curricula Depending on the region, size, acreage, production, and processing practices (i.e., culture, language, market, values, beliefs), growers, processors, and vendors face unique challenges when trying to come into compliance with FSMA regulations. In partnership with FDA officials and a Cooperative Agreement Grantee, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), procedures and supporting documentation have been created for the Alternate Curriculum Review Process including: a 21 page document outlining the entire process, requirements, critical learning objectives that must be included within the Alternative curriculum, as well as an intake form when starting the review process. On the ncrfsma.org website, an overview of this review process is provided for all stakeholders along with forms needed for the submission process. The NCR FSMA Center began testing the process and documentation using the Alternate Curriculum developed by NSAC in January 2020 with the assistance of FDA Produce Safety Team. This process is on-going (testing review stage 3 of 3) with a goal of finishing the review by February 2021. Based on this testing process, the best practice guide has been improved to assist new entities wishing to develop an Alternate Curriculum. The Alternate Curriculum review process is nearly complete. Objective 5: Professional development for a cadre of regional FSMA trainers The NCR FSMA Center supports new and experienced trainers by highlighting resources on its website as well as providing direct technical assistance through an onboarding document, listening sessions, annual conference, mentorship program, and other training opportunities in the region as determined by formal and informal needs assessment. The PSA Grower Training Knowledge Assessment is a survey used to determine the effectiveness of educators in leading the PSA course. Results from the 2018-19 training season showed that on average participants increased scores from pre-test to post-test by 3.9 points from 16.0 to 19.9 points (out of 25 points possible), which indicates their knowledge increased. Prior to the training, participants were most familiar with the concepts in modules 1, 2, and 3 and had the lowest knowledge of modules 6 and 7. Their scores improved the most on modules 6 and 4. The analysis showed that participants in trainings offered to special populations, particularly Plain growers, entered the training with lower knowledge (average of 14.3 on the pre-test compared with 16.6 among the general population) and increased their knowledge scores by less (increase of 3.6 among Plain growers compared with 4.0 of general audiences). The NCR FSMA Center continues to work with trainers to improve populations for special populations. Results from the 2019-2020 PSA course training season, ended on June 30, 2020, are currently being analyzed. The NCR FSMA Center has partnered with states to conduct a follow-up survey of PSA Grower Training participants. The survey is sent approximately 12 months after training to measure changes made by participants after training. The most recent survey was conducted in January and February 2020 with participants in trainings held between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. 364 (39%) participants responded to the survey. Results showed: 76 percent of growers made at least one change to food safety practices after the training. Most common changes were to food safety record keeping (50% of respondents), managing wildlife or domesticated animals (49%), and modifying or writing farm food safety plans (46%). Twenty-five percent of growers added or modified on-farm infrastructure or equipment to improve food safety practices. Fifty-five percent of non-growers made changes as a result of attending the training. 96 respondents spent an estimated $209,350 to improve food safety practices and infrastructure The eight new impact stories further highlight changes made by farmers across the region and collaboration of entities within the region. These stories show we are building a cadre of trainers in the region who are providing technical assistance and education to growers, processors, and vendors. Objective 6: Technical assistance to growers, processors, and vendors in the north central region Produce growers, processors, and vendors who must meet FSMA requirements have specific questions related to their operations. The NCR FSMA Center has infrastructure to support technical assistance requirements through a cadre of experienced FSMA Trainers found listed on the partners tab of the center website. These are the state leads and serve as the starting resource for growers and processors but due to the interconnectedness of educators and regulators in the region, businesses have access to a vast array of technical support. NCR FSMA Center staff directly participated in four grower conferences around the Midwest prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bhullar, M.*, Shaw, A., Hannan, J., and S. Andrews. 2020. Extending the holding time for agricultural water testing method EPA 1603 for produce growers. Water: 11 (10): 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11102020
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. February 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. NDFMGA and Local Foods Conference. Bismark, North Dakota.
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. North Central Region Center for FSMA Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance website. Iowa State University. 2020. https://www.ncrfsma.org.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. December 2019. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. National Farmers Union Advisory Board. Washington D.C.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Johnsen, E., Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Naig, A., and Enderton, A., January 2020. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Southern Region Integrated Produce Safety Conference. Savannah, South Carolina
• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shaw, A. January 2020. Advanced Produce Safety Alliance Training. Southern Region Integrated Produce Safety Conference. Florida
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Naig, A., and Enderton, A., February 2020. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Northeast FSMA Center Legal Meeting. Boston, Massachusetts
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Naig, A., and Enderton, A. May 2020. Update for North Central Region Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Western FSMA Center Meeting. Virtual.

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The Center engages with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the grant cycle including: produce growers, owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small food processors, merchant wholesalers, warehouses, vendors, food hubs, and local farm cooperatives through the advisory board representatives. The Center also interacts with non-government organizations (NGOs), fruit and vegetable commodity organizations, community based organizations, federal and state government partners such as USDA, FDA, Produce Safety Alliance, Produce Safety Network, Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, Sprout Safety Alliance, National Association for State Departments of Agriculture, and other produce commodity organizations. FSMA trainers recruited from university faculty, staff, and extension, and state departments of agriculture and health personnel with an established track record of working with the target audiences engage with the Center on a daily basis. Specifically, the NCR FSMA Center has an advisory board that includes farmers, produce processors, staff at regulatory agencies who work specifically with produce, land grant extension personnel (educators), and representatives from other groups (such as Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, Produce Safety Alliance, and Sprout Safety Alliance). The "state leads" group includes one lead person from each of the twelve states within the North Central Region. These individuals were chosen based on their expertise with produce safety and ties to the produce industry within their state, and they are a direct point of contact between the Center and the state. The Center also serves Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Lead Trainers and Trainers. These individuals work for land grant extension programs, non-profits, commodity groups, or government agencies tied to produce safety. Produce Safety Regulators are from State Departments of Agriculture, State Departments of Health, or equivalent government agency and are charged with inspection and education of the produce industry. Lastly, farmers within the North Central Region of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and their associated organizations are the main target of the education provided by partners. Special efforts are made to reach Amish/Mennonites, Hmong, Sudanese/ African, and Hispanic/Latinx growers. Changes/Problems:The procedure for reviewing Alternate Curriculum was delayed due to the delayed release of the Guidance on Alternate Curriculum by the FDA. Additionally, the Western Center has not yet established procedures for the review process for the add-on materials. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the absence of guidance documentation from FDA surrounding the Produce Safety Rule and a non-complete Rule ("reserved" sections within the Produce Safety Rule), FSMA trainers are left without agreed-upon guidance, which complicates their work. The goals for this year were to 1) implement a new FSMA trainer program; 2) develop a FSMA trainer mentorship program; 3) provide honorariums to gain educational support; 4) conduct non-formal FSMA trainer needs assessments; and 5) develop FSMA trainer professional development curricula. The first step was to develop a specific page to support educators. This was developed in May 2019 (https://www.ncrfsma.org/educators) on the ncrfsma.org website. This page highlights upcoming listening sessions, the trainer sharing program, the mentoring program, as well as tools and resources for educators. A separate tab highlights professional development opportunities for educators. To assist new FSMA trainers as they onboard into the system, an onboarding document with abbreviations and general overview of who does what and who is the contact person is under development and will be complete in Year Two. The NCR FSMA Mentorship program officially began in June of 2019. The goal of this program is to help new and current FSMA educators gain knowledge or a skill from their peers. The ncrfsma website highlights this program (https://www.ncrfsma.org/educators) and has the complete details on how to apply to the program and what is involved. In brief, Peer to Peer Mentorship Program is designed to assist with fostering a professional relationship with a fellow food safety educator. It is a six-month commitment to work with a peer food safety educator and set a goal to increase knowledge, experience, and/or a skill set. The intended audience is anyone who is a produce focused food safety educator within the North Central Region (i.e. academia, extension, government, non-profits, etc.) whose job is to assist with the implementation of food safety regulations (i.e. Produce Safety Rule, Preventive Control Human Food Rule, Sprouts Rule, etc.). Potential candidates complete an application available on ncrfsma.org website. They are then matched with a peer by NCR FSMA Center, attend a virtual pre-program webinar and evaluation. Mentees meet virtually with their peer match and establish goal(s) for the mentorship. Eight-$500 travel scholarships available to each pair each year (24 total scholarships available). To date, there are two pairs of participants identified for this program. To develop and further educate trainers and regulators, The NCR FSMA Center offers monthly one hour Listening Sessions via Zoom. Listening Sessions are recorded with summary notes provided for individuals who are not able to attend live. Based on feedback from the communications survey and the advisory board, the agenda varies from open forum discussions to deep dives on specific content. The first NCR USDA Center webinar happened on April 18, 2019. Thirty-eight people attended and heard an overview of the NCR FSMA add on materials that were developed by the first NCR FDA FSMA Center. People from different states shared what is happening in their areas, and people suggested topics for upcoming webinars. The second listening session on May 16, 2019, provided information related to flooding and FSMA. A list of resources was posted to the website and promoted in newsletters and social media. The June 20, 2019 listening session recapped the NCR FSMA Center's first annual conference. It highlighted the agenda, key updates, lightening talks, and posters. Dr. Kaiping Deng presented during the July 18, 2019 listening session and explained the work of the Sprout Safety Alliance. She provided resources for those who are working with sprout producers within the NCR. On August 15, 2019, Don Stoeckel from the Produce Safety Alliance presented on the topic "Science behind the water standards". He provided the participants with a lay audience version of why the specific FSMA Produce Safety Rule details were required. There are listening sessions scheduled for September 19 (Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative), October 19 (Chelsea Matzen, Local Food Safety Collaborative Needs Assessment), and November 21 (Traci Knight, best practices for social media). In preparation for fall/winter 2018/2019 PSA classes, an ad-hoc team of educators across the region developed an informal meeting. Hosted by Michigan State University, the meeting offered an opportunity for educators and regulators to discuss the intricacies of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule and build partnerships across the region. The meeting, referred to as NBI, was held in Detroit, Michigan, on October 23 and 24. Nineteen participants attended the meeting in Detroit and another forty-six attended remotely via Zoom. A broad range of topics was covered including state-by-state education plans, equivalent water testing methods, various released fact sheets, on-farm readiness review observations, and deep dive discussions into vague areas of the Rule such as hops, wine grapes, and dropped covered produce. The meeting was intended to build educator capacity going into the training season and foster relationships across the region with educators and regulators. A second meeting is being planned for fall 2019. The first NCR FSMA Annual Conference was held June 10-11, in Indianapolis, IN in partnership with Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana State Department of Agriculture, and Purdue University with financial assistance that included FDA funding. This 1.5-day event was held June 10 and 11 at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Airport hotel and included an optional half-day tour of the Purdue University student farm. Conference presenters included staff from the FDA, USDA, PSA, state departments of agriculture, FSMA Centers, university educators, and students. The conference provided opportunities for 70 individuals to share their work through deep dive discussions, lightning round talks, a poster session, brainstorming activities, and an evening social. A formal working group has been established with regular digital meetings hosted by NCR FSMA and one face-to-face meeting (sponsored by NCR FSMA) to ensure inspector consistency across state lines. The meeting focused on real world scenarios to ensure inspectors in the region were unanimously citing the rule consistently across state lines. The meeting also served as a practice forum for inexperienced inspectors. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Outreach activities extensively described in "Other Products" and under "What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?". What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The procedure for reviewing Alternate Curriculum was delayed due to the delayed release of the Guidance on Alternate Curriculum by the FDA. Currently a potential final draft of the rubric and procedure for review are with FDA officials (as of July 2019). Further delays are not expected upon final approval of review documents.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overarching goal of this project is to support the infrastructure of the national food safety program by communicating and coordinating information within the North Central Region related to the Food Safety Modernization Act's Produce Safety Rule (PSR) and Preventive Control Rule. In partnership with educators, regulators, growers and food processors in all 12 states, this goal will be achieved by expanding the regional produce safety network, supporting FSOP grant awardees, and providing training for regional FSMA stakeholders. The team will build on the current educational infrastructure specific to the North Central Region to build a cadre of FSMA Trainers that are capable of providing technical assistance and education to growers, processors, and vendors. The interconnectedness of educators and regulators and the new relationships that are formed in the region will lead to better-educated and more knowledgeable individuals who are then better equipped to provide technical assistance to businesses across the region. These achievements will result in long-term impacts on the region and the nation, reducing the incidences of foodborne illness and laying the groundwork for a safer food supply through improvement of practices and compliance with the PSR. Objective 1: Expand the successfully established produce safety network within the NCR The NCR FSMA Center has successfully expanded its produce safety network by creating a sortable database sortable by classification educator (PSA and/or FSPCA), regulator, farmer, grower, advisory board member, etc. The list was updated from the preexisting FDA Center database and has grown from 128 people to 191 people since October 2018. The program coordinator tracks involvement of Center-sponsored events to monitor database health. The dual leadership approach of the Center has allowed the team to expand partnerships with stakeholders through participation at regional and national events. This has allowed for sharing of resources regionally at professional development activities. Objective 2: Develop and implement a communication system The NCR FSMA Center uses a variety of platforms and methods to facilitate information sharing across the NCR produce safety network as determined by a member based needs assessment. The center offers a monthly newsletter (average 191 recipients) and listening sessions (average 26 attendees) as well as an annual conference (70 attendees) to facilitate sharing of information and professional development for a wide array of members including both those that are fully dedicated to implementing and supporting the FSMA Produce Safety Rule and those for whom this is just one part of their job. The NCRFSMA.org website was updated to meet the needs of the new Center objectives. Over the past six months, 994 people have visited the site for a total of 1693 visits. People spend an average of 3 minutes and 15 seconds on the website and complete an average of 3 actions (page views, downloads, etc.). People downloaded 233 documents from the website. In July 2019, 288 people visited the site for a total of 429 visits. The newsletter and website have been updated to be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. The NCR FSMA Center established a 24 person advisory board that meets quarterly via Zoom. The advisory board has provided input and feedback on the communication survey, specifically informing decisions about the listening sessions and the newsletter format. The advisory board provided feedback on the content of the first annual NCR FSMA Center conference in Indianapolis, IN. In addition, they provided additional details building on the breakouts sessions that occurred at annual conference. Objective 3: Support for Food Safety Outreach Program Awards The NCR FSMA Center provides support to each of the FSOP grantees as well as those teams applying for funding. The FSOP Liaison has made contact with each awardee via email, established a communication plan via Zoom meeting, determined if any materials would need add-on or alternate curriculum review, and shared details of the national evaluation plan. Nine recipients attended annual conference and six of them presented. No projects were identified as needing a review process. Objective 4: Review of FSMA add-on materials and alternate curricula Depending on the region, size, acreage, production, and processing practices (i.e., culture, language, market, values, beliefs), growers, processors, and vendors face unique challenges when trying to come into compliance with FSMA regulations. Since FSMA regulations were released, FSMA trainers, educators, FSOP awardees, and other stakeholder groups have been developing targeted FSMA add-on materials and alternate curricula to meet these needs. New materials are developed to meet these needs regularly. The NCR FSMA Center is developing procedures and a rubric to review alternate curriculum. In partnership with FDA officials and a Cooperative Agreement Grantee, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), procedures and protocols for review of alternate curriculum have been submitted to the FDA for review. On the ncrfsma.org website, an overview of this review process is provided for all stakeholders along with forms needed for the submission process. The intake forms are currently being approved by the FDA with an anticipated final release date of October 2019. The process is on hold until final approval of procedures and documents is received by FDA. Objective 5: Professional development for a cadre of regional FSMA trainers The NCR FSMA Center supports new and experienced trainers by highlighting resources on its website as well as providing direct technical assistance through an onboarding document, listening sessions, annual conference, mentorship program, and other training opportunities in the region as determined by formal and informal needs assessment. The NCR FSMA Center administered a post-conference survey at the conclusion of the first annual conference. Overall feedback is positive. Topics that dug into the nitty gritty details of the Rule and highlighted work being done by partners across the region outscored all other topics in value by attendees. The post conference survey also inquired about accessibility and inclusivity. While the survey indicates the conference was generally inclusive, the leadership team has identified some areas for improvement at the next conference and will adapt accordingly. Other adjustments to the 2020 conference will be made in accordance for sessions scoring low in value. Results from a knowledge assessment dating back to funding from the FDA Center show trainers are getting better at teaching PSA curriculum. Objective 6: Technical assistance to growers, processors, and vendors in the NCR Produce growers, processors, and vendors who must meet FSMA requirements have specific questions related to their operations. The NCR FSMA Center has infrastructure to support technical assistance requirements through a cadre of experienced FSMA Trainers found listed on the partners tab of the center website (https://www.ncrfsma.org/partners). These are the state leads and serve as the starting resource for growers and processors but due to the interconnectedness of educators and regulators in the region, businesses have access to a vast array of technical support. To date, one small to medium sized grower resource has been identified for updating; the vegetable wash stations as designed by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture are commonly cited and used by other designs across the country but due to the amount of non-washable surfaces, are in need of updating. Finally, the PI team has presented at six regional produce grower conferences, delivered one regional FSPCA course, and attended one national food safety conference.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Shaw, A. 2019. FSMA Produce, Processing, and Holding. Ohio Produce Network. Dublin, Ohio.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Rajagopal, L. Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. 2019. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. NECEF Meeting. Albany, New York.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Rajagopal, L. Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. 2019. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Western FSMA Center Meeting. Portland, Oregon.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Rajagopal, L. Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. 2019. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical. Indiana Horticulture Congress. Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Rajagopal, L. Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. 2018. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Southern Region Integrated Produce Safety Conference. Atlanta, Georgia.Conference. Atlanta, Georgia.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Shaw, A., Hannan, J., Rajagopal, L. Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. 2018. Update for North Central Regional Center for Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Local Foods Conference. Brookings, South Dakota.
• Type: Websites Status: Accepted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hannan, J., Shaw, A., Rajagopal, L. Enderton, A., and Johnsen, E. North Central Region Center for FSMA Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance. Iowa State University. 2019. https://www.ncrfsma.org.