Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
Underserved growers need access to qualified trainers they trust who can provide produce safety trainings and technical assistance to support them as they meet regulatory and market expectations, while increasing their understanding of how to reduce microbial risks to the produce they grow. This project will develop Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Trainers that work with underserved growers and provide opportunities to expand trainer technical expertise. Trainers supporting Hispanic growers, developing professionals focused on serving African American and tribal growers, and individuals serving small, rural farm owners will be recruited to participate in a three-tiered PSA training. It will equip trainers with an understanding of the Produce Safety Rule requirements, how to assess microbial risks associated with fresh produce production, how to effectively deliver trainings, and an experiential learning opportunity to apply food safety concepts in real life scenarios. A dynamic peer network will be created by facilitating interactions between the three cohorts through quarterly meetings that encourage collaboration and peer learning. The objectives and activities address the USDA-NIFA Collaborative Education and Training Projects. The program will 1) support the expansion of multi-state food safety education and outreach programs to address common food safety concerns and 2) develop and modify food safety training curricula to meet new FSMA rules for agricultural systems with an emphasis on assisting underserved communities. The project team is located throughout the U.S. to ensure recruitment from underserved communities nationwide. This grant will cover participation and travel expenses for participants and be evaluated to assess its impact.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
Objective 1: Increase availability of PSA Trainers among underserved communities by mentoring participants through a 3-tier training program (GT, TTT, PSA Advanced Trainer Workshop) to equip them with the scientific knowledge and technical expertise to support growers from their communities in implementing food safety practices to meet PSR and buyer requirements. This first objective will create a cadre of trusted PSA Trainers that can support fresh produce growers in their communities as they strive to meet market and regulatory demands for food safety. The 3-tiered program will provide comprehensive training on i) GAPs and FSMA PSR regulatory requirements through the PSA GT Course, ii) how to effectively conduct training for growers through the PSA TTT Course and iii) experiential learning to help participants practice key concepts they have learned and understand the science behind the PSR through the PSA Advanced Trainer Workshop.Objective 2: Create a dynamic peer-to-peer network to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange by wavering interactions among participants throughout the training program. This second objective will ensure participants in all three cohorts interact to build new relationships and create an environment for peer-to-peer learning. It is hoped this will result in professional support beyond the grant and lead to creative and collaborative problem solving.Objective 3: Evaluate fellows' knowledge acquisition and the program's impact on training delivery, communication skills, problem-solving, and overall technical expertise. This third objective will evaluate the impact of the overall program on participants and help assess if this approach is viable for reaching other underserved communities.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Forty eight participants (16 per cohort) will receive standardized training from the PSA, independently of their baseline food safety knowledge. Once each participant has attended one remote PSA GT and one remote PSA TTT, they will be eligible to participate in one of the two in-person PSA Advanced Trainer Workshops that will be conducted during the project at different locations (California State University, Chico; Texas A&M University).Drs. Bihn, Meneses, Orellana, Taylor, and Ms. O'Bannon will ensure two PSA Advanced Trainings are available to accommodate all participants and coordinate additional external trainers who will support delivery of the training.The PSA Advanced Trainer Workshop is an interactive workshop which combines lectures, hands-on activities, and breakout sessions covering the following topics:• Micro 101• Soil Amendments and Animal Intrusion• Production Water• Postharvest Water• Sanitation• Instructor tips for participant engagementEach PSA Advanced Trainer Workshop will have 24 participants to ensure every attendee can participate in the hands-on activities, engage with the instructors, and have all their questions addressed through dynamic interactions with subject matter experts.Task 1. Identify active leaders among underserved communities and trainers serving underserved grower communities to recruit as participants. Three cohorts of 20 students each will be mentored in the proposed training program. The cohorts will be formed with fellows from the Local Food Safety Collaborative (LFSC) that will receive two of the trainings through that program, educators working with Hispanic growers, and developing professionals serving underserved African-American and tribal communities. Participants from the LFSC fellows' program were nominated by LFSC partner organizations. Fellows are mainly growers and community leaders from states with low numbers of active PSA Lead Trainers. The target audiences also include individuals serving Hispanic growers and developing professionals planning to assist underserved communities. To ensure successful recruitment, partnerships have been established with minority-serving organizations, including Alabama A&M University (Dr. Armitra Jackson-Davis), California State University Chico College of Agriculture (Dr. Ricardo Orellana), Texas A&M University (Dr. Matthew Taylor), University of Florida (Ms. Taylor O'Bannon). Dr. Jackson-Davis will lead the recruitment of developing professionals since she has extensive experience with mentoring students and has national relationships she can leverage to identify up and coming leaders with an interest in outreach to growers. The PSA Team and colleagues at University of Arizona have been working with tribal growers and these contacts will be used to invite participation from tribal members. Recruiting individuals serving Hispanic growers will be coordinated by Dr. Meneses with support from Dr. Orellana and the other PSA Spanish-Language Extension Associates who have built relationships with many different Hispanic communities. Many underserved growers are reluctant to work with extension educators from outside their community due to mistrust and past misdeeds. This is why it is imperative to support new PSA Trainers within their communities. The proposed project will help develop PSA Trainers by offering training and travel grants to candidates from underserved communities.Task 2. This grant will help to expand the locations outside of the eastern U.S. as many individuals have requested this training. In previous PSA Advanced Training Workshops, Dr. Matthew Taylor and Dr. Ricardo Orellana participated as instructors and are familiar with the time and resources required to organize a successful training. Therefore, they are ready to host the PSA Advanced Training Workshop in their respective institutions. The main objective is to develop new instructors to expand the teaching cadre and make the PSA Advanced Training Workshop more accessible to our target audiences. We will offer two PSA Advanced Trainer Workshops and expanding the teaching cadre by adding Dr. Armitra Jackson-Davis from Alabama A&M, Dr. Jovana Kovacevic, and Ms. Stephanie Brown from Oregon State University as instructors. The goal is to have these instructors ready to bring the advanced training to their respective regions in the future.Task 3. Modify the curriculum to enhance its effectiveness based on both evaluation data and direct feedback from the target audiences. This will include updating to include FSMA PSR regulatory requirements that are scheduled to change (i.e., Subpart E and F) and incorporating new scientific research that is relevant to produce safety.Objective 2: Create a dynamic peer-to-peer network to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange among program participants. Participants will be recruited from the targeted groups. As participants are being recruited, events will be organized to introduce all the participants to each other and to explain the overall goals of the program. These events will be done remotely. PSA GT and TTT Courses will be offered in succession at different times to accommodate all participants. Once participants have completed the PSA GT and TTT Courses, they will be eligible to attend one of the PSA Advanced Training Workshops. In between courses, remote meetings will be held quarterly so that participants can develop networks and discuss produce safety topics. The outcome will be a dynamic network of peers to support each other beyond the duration of the training program. These meetings will be coordinated by Drs. Bihn and Meneses.Objective 3: Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation Model will be used to develop an evaluation strategy to assess the effectiveness of the fellows' program (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2007). The goal will be to assess if the participants felt the experience was worth their time and effort, if it increased their produce safety knowledge, if participants developed relationships among the other cohorts, and how they intend to increase outreach and technical assistance efforts to underserved growers and to strengthen national collaboration and cross-cultural sharing. Level One ("Reaction") will be assessed after each training. Participants will be asked about the overall experience, the most valuable concept learned, and what could be improved. Evaluations also ask participants to rate if each module met their expectations, provided useful knowledge to pass on to growers, and to provide any recommendations for the session using Likert-scale responses (1 means Strongly Disagree; 5 means Strongly Agree). Efforts to assess Level Two of Kirkpatrick's Model, "Learning" will include a pre-test and post-test to assess what participants knew before and after each training. These tests will be based on the learning objectives and project goals. Participants then will be surveyed six months after completing the 3-tier program to evaluate the impact on training ability, technical expertise, and intentions for actions moving forward. The six-month post-workshop survey will include questions about how information learned in the workshop has been applied, including participants' ability to present PSA Grower Training course modules and provide technical assistance to growers. Trainers' confidence level will also be evaluated. This survey will allow for a comparison of how PSA Trainers' readiness to teach the PSA Grower Training course content is impacted by experiential learning opportunities, such as those gained in the PSA Advanced Trainer Workshop and their peer-to-peer network interactions. Survey and evaluation results will be analyzed and submitted for consideration by a peer-reviewed publication.