Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:In a recent article published by the Arizona Farm Bureau, Arizona is listed as the only state in the nation in which more than half of all farmers and ranchers are Native Americans. Accordingly, nearly 21 million farm acres in Arizona are tended to by producers on the state's twenty-two Native American tribes and nations. This accounts for nearly 80 percent of all farmland in Arizona. In 2007, these farms also sold close to $85 million worth of agricultural products. It is very apparent that Tribal lands contribute to the overall success of the Arizona agriculture industry (Murphree, 2013). Despite the important role of Native American farmers, there are no hands-on delivery mechanisms of culturally sensitive resources for Tribal growers related to food safety principles in Arizona. This historically underserved population of hard-to-reach stakeholders not only needs, but also deserves, culturally relevant and appropriate resources available to them related to safe food production, transport, and sale. In order to meet this need, our team developed and deployedculturally appropriate hands-on training opportunities covering the following topics; 1) quality control and microbiology, 2) regulatory oversight, 3) animal intrusion and risk assessment, 4) documentation and record keeping, and 5) effective techniques for teaching food safety. These topics have been identified by the produce industry as critical areas of interest. In addition, the recent Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) auditing requirements, as well as specific testing protocols, have been laid out by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and include requirements for detailed record keeping. This is one of the critical areas covered by our developed training. One of the key components that make these training opportunities different, yet complementary, to training programs that are currently available is that we propose to use experiential learning to teach participants about culturally appropriate food safety principles.Using this type of proven, effective educational technique, these training opportunities will bring Tribal audiences through four stages of learning: 1) Awareness, 2) Knowledge, 3) Understanding and 4) Action or behavior change. Using inquiry and problem solving, real-world learning experiences, project-based learning, and team-building, participants adopted food safety practices that come from a place of familial respect. Changes/Problems:One of the major challenges when working with tribes, is understanding the complex processes related to tribal governments and the time it takes to ultimately achive approval for working with tribal members. Although our team had significant support from tribal community members and growers, we still needed to be respectful of the government process to gain approval to conduct work with the tribe. In the future, it would be wise to have extended timelines on grants working with tribes to ensure that all objectives can be accomplished in a timely manner. Fortunately, our team was able to broaden our scope to encompass more than just the one initial tribe described in the proposal. Additionally, we recieved tremendous support from FRTEP agents and the University of Arkansas to complete the work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In order to meet the needs of these stakeholders, an internal UA student advisory board was also formed. The advisory board was made up of both graduate and undergraduate students with tribal affiliations. This group became the sounding board for curriculum developed as part of this project. Once feedback was received and prioritized, the UA research and Extension team developed the Produce Safety Guide For Native American Growers. This manual is over 50 pages covering the following topics; 1) People and Produce Safety, 2) Animals and Produce Safety, 3) Land Use and Produce Safety, 4) Agricultural Water, 5) Soil Amendments, 6) Packaging, 7) Record Keeping, and 8) How to write a food safety Plan. While the manual follows the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training curriculum, it uses examples and pictures from within tribal communities. It also uses "story telling" as a way to introduce complex topics around food safety. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Once the tribal curriculum was developed, the University of Arizona students and staff conducted three open house trainings open to any and all community member to attend. It should be noted that although the initial target audience was the Gila River Indian Community, the team felt it was more appropriate to be all inclusive to anyone interested in attending. In addition to the three targeted tribal food safety workshops hosted by the University of Arizona, our team was invited to participate in tribal food safety trainings in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon by the University of Arkansas. Tribal curriculum was disseminated at each of these meetings as well as across the State of Arizona through FRTEP (Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Professionals. In all, over 100 Produce Safety Guides for Native American Growers were distributed. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Over the course of the project the research and extension team worked with tribal extension and community members from three Arizona based tribes to evaluate specific training and educational needs related to food safety. A total of 78 comments from community members were received through direct in-person meetings, email, and phone calls.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension-Indigenous Fresh Produce Trainings Program. Produce Safety Guide For Native American Growers, Summer 2018.
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:During the reporting period for Seeds for Increasing Tribal Knowledge in Food Safety with the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), project activities focused on tribal relations, tribal council meetings, development of tribal advisory board and training curriculum development. Developing tribal relations with an underrepresented community has been challenging due to the culture, governance, and trust which has resulted in more time needed to cooperate with the tribal government. While establishing relationships with the community, simultaneously the tribal advisory board was developed. There are currently three tribal advisory board members who are active leaders in the GRIC that have helped us in establishing a solid foundation for both tribal government communication and training curriculum Changes/Problems:Developing tribal relations with an underrepresented community has been challenging due to the culture, governance, and trust which has resulted in more time needed to cooperate with the tribal government. While we have been successful at forming a tribal advisory council, we are still moving through the process of tribal council approval. There are a number of subcommittees that require presentations, review, and approval before the team is allowed to actually conduct trainings on tribal land and to tribal members. We were quite pleased with our progress through the natural resources committee, and the environmental committees. However, when we approach the final tribal council leaders in the last meeting, our team was asked to work from the beginning with three additional committees. We are currently working to address the questions and concerns of the Gila River Indian Community and work with the three new committees to the best of our ability. We have no doubt that we will be able to proceed, however, this is a main reason for the no-cost extension. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?While food safety trainings have not yet been conducted, we feel that the research and extension team has made substantial strides to educate our tribal advisory board members as well as our FDA counterparts. Additionally, PhD graduate student ValerisaJoe was able to attend and become a certified Produce Safety Alliance trainer under the Food Safety Modernization Act. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To date, information related to FDA FSMA has been disseminated to tribal council members through in person communications, PowerPoint presentations presented to tribal members, short one-page fact sheets, and radio advertisements on local tribal radio station for the Gila River Indian Community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Pending the approval of the no-costextension,the following timeline is presented below. Upcoming events and activities: July- September 2017: Work on recommendations and attend the departmental tribal meetings October 2017: Attend the tribal council meeting November- December 2017: Advertise for food safetytrainings January-March 2018: Execute 5 training sessions February- May 2018: Evaluations May - July 2018: Tribal feedback and communications August 2018: Final report preparation
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the reporting period for Seeds for Increasing Tribal Knowledge in Food Safety with the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), project activities focused on tribal relations, tribal council meetings, development of tribal advisory board and training curriculum development. Developing tribal relations with an underrepresented community has been challenging due to the culture, governance and trust which has resulted in more time needed to cooperate with the tribal government. While establishing relationship with the community, simultaneously the tribal advisory board was developed. There are currently three tribal advisory board members who are active leaders in the GRIC that have helped us in establishing a solid foundation for both tribal government communication and training curriculum. The curriculum developed will utilize hands-on methods, such as the University of Arizona- Maricopa Agricultural Center's Wild Cat Water Lab, to demonstrate proper water testing methods. In conjunction with the hands-on approach, prominent University of Arizona faculty who are well established in their respective fields will aid teaching the trainings. Overall, we have completed a number of milestones and are still in progress on developing a successful relation with the GRIC tribal government. Timeline of Activities to date: February 2017: Developed relationship with the Gila River Indian Community of Arizona February 2017: Established tribal advisory board, with three members of GRIC April-July 2017: Developed curriculum for trainings May 2017: Passed the first and second GRIC departmental tribal meetings July 2017: Attended last tribal council meeting which resulted in recommendations and clarifications of curriculum
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Community presentation shared at tribal council meetings that explains the project and the anticipated outcomes.
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