Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project includes small-size to mid-size farms that are underserved (which includes minority groups such as Hispanics and African-Americans), such as beginning women, specialty crops, Amish/Mennonite, refugees, and urban farmers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We organized a total of four workshops involving small, underserved fruit and vegetable growers, who are typically not covered under the FSMA-PSR. The training that we developed provided an overview of FSMA-PSR and HGAPs and their key differences and creating a farm FSP. The project addressed the educational needs of small, specialized audiences who are an integral part of our food system. In summary, this project created opportunities to train a diverse audience, including underserved growers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results and products of the project were disseminated to the target stakeholders/communities by creating an online learning portal, the Virtual Food Safety Outreach Platform at Illinois (VFSOPI). In addition, a manual/brochure titled "Food Safety Bootcamp for Small Growers" was developed, which contained several relevant topics such as the Basics of Developing a Food Safety Plan (FSP); the Role of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in Improving Food Safety; the Basics of FSMA Produce Safety Regulations (PSR) and Compliance with PSR; Overview of Pre- and Post-Harvest Water Sampling and Analysis. These resources are available online and were also distributed during the four (4) workshop presentations during the grant cycle. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the project period, we created the Virtual Food Safety Outreach Platform at Illinois (VFSOPI) to integrate the educational/outreach contents in Food Safety Plan (FSP); Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs); FSMA Produce Safety Regulations (PSR) and Pre- and Post-Harvest Water Sampling and Analysis. We have organized four food safety workshops, two in 2022 (January and June) and two in 2023 (August and September) for a group of stakeholders in Illinois. One of the workshops/bootcamps was a hands-on demonstration of food safety best practices for small growers who are involved in specialty crop farming. In addition, an introduction to FSMA PSR and the similarities/differences of the GAP vs PSR were presented to the growers. More than 60 small growers from different parts of Illinois (including 32 urban minority growers) participated. Our pre-workshop survey revealed that about 87% and 98% of the participants did not know the differences between PSR and GAPs, and did not have a farm FSP in place, respectively. All participants indicated their knowledge about the differences between PSR and GAPs increased to a high level. Almost all (>98%) attendees indicated that the workshops helped increase their likelihood of adopting an FSP in their operations.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Banerjee P, Banerjee G, Sulaiman IM. Development of a Virtual Food Safety Education and Outreach Platform for Small and Very Small Farms in Illinois. Abstract. 2023; Food Safety Outreach Program National Project Directors Meeting [May 31-June 1, 2023]. Available online at: https://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/fsop/documents/FSOP-2023-Program-Book-Online.pdf.
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project includes small-size to mid-size farms that are underserved (which includes minority groups such as Hispanics and African-Americans), such as beginning, women, specialty crops, Amish/Mennonite, refugees, and urban farmers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We have offered one GAP workshop in Chicago, Illinois, to a group of minority urban farmers. Among other modules, presentations were made on GAP resources and how it is different from FSMA-PSR. In addition to the onsite activities, we have continued our effort to increase the number of FSMA Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) certified trainers (resulting in four additional PSA trainers) within the Illinois Extension system. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The dissemination of the results wassomewhat affected by the pandemic. However, we have been able to reach out to the stakeholders within Illinois and distribute educational materials relevant to GAP and PSR. Our GAP workshop in the summer of 2022 in Chicago was co-organized with NASDA, the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and one community organization (Eden Place Farm-Fuller Park Community Development). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to accomplish all outstanding goals during the next reporting period. This includes completion and rolling out of theVFSOPI website;hands-on waterand soil sampling demonstrations; and conducting two to threein-person workshops.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the reporting period, we have worked with the IT experts on developing the Virtual Food Safety Outreach Platform at Illinois (VFSOPI) to integrate the educational/outreach contents in the Food Safety Plan (FSP); Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs); FSMA Produce Safety Regulations (PSR) and Pre- and Post-Harvest Water Sampling and Analysis. We have also piloted the GAP module in June 2022 to a group of stakeholders in Chicago, Illinois. In addition, an introduction to FSMA PSR and the similarities/differences of the GAP vs PSR were presented to growers. More than 25 small,socially disadvantaged urban growers attended the workshop.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the projectincludes small-size to mid-size farms that are underserved (which includes minority groups such as Hispanics and African-Americans), such as beginning, women, specialty crop, Amish/Mennonite, refugees (Burmese and Bhutanese), and urban farmers. We have made connections with these groups in Illinois during the reporting period by establishing collaboration with the Illinois Farm Bureau. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person outreach activities were severely impacted during the reporting period. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic posed a major challenge to accomplishing the goals that required in-person interactions. It was impossible to arrange in-person workshops due to Federal, State, and local public health advisories. Moreover, a significant portion of our target audience, who are socially disadvantaged farmers in Illinois, has limited access to reliable internet services. So, we decided not to conduct remote/Zoom training sessions during the reporting period, as that would have precluded this segment of our target audience from attending those remote sessions. We hope that as the pandemic situation gets better in the next reporting cycle, we should be able to arrange in-person workshops as planned in the original proposal. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided opportunities to increase the number of FSMA Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) certified trainers (resulting in four additional PSA trainers) within the Illinois Extension system. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person outreach activities for this project were severely impacted during the reporting period. However, through our community collaborators, we have established a recruitment strategy to recruit small to mid-size farmers who are underserved (which includes minority groups such as Hispanics and African-Americans), such as beginning, women, specialty crop, Amish/Mennonite, refugees (Burmese and Bhutanese), and urban farmers. Our stakeholders will be the recipients of our FSMA training (in-person workshop) and will receive information on relevant food safety practices by paper-based documents/flyers and web-based content. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue developing target audience-specific food safety educational content, which will be disseminated via onsite workshops for stakeholders as well as for Extension agents. These can be accessed by a dedicated VFSOPI website or from any device with the ability to connect to the internet. We plan to conduct hands-on water and soil sampling demonstrations at the in-person workshops that will benefit the attendees. We will include hands-on demonstrations for water and soil sampling and testing under our existing Objective 4 (Task 4).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the reporting period, we have developed customized training content on the following topics:(i) Basics of Developing a Food Safety Plan (FSP); (ii) Role of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in Improving Food Safety; (iii) Basics of FSMA Produce Safety Regulations (PSR) and Compliance with PSR; and (iv) Overview of Pre- and Post-Harvest Water Sampling and Analysis. In addition, a module on Soil Testing and Safe Soil Amendments is under development. A Virtual Food Safety Outreach Platform at Illinois (VFSOPI) that is capable of storing and delivering training content developed is under construction during the reporting period.
Publications
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