BRIDGING THE GAP: EXPANDING A HACCP-BASED CURRICULUM TO HELP PRODUCE GROWERS TREAT AGRICULTURAL WATER

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1024025
• Grant No.: 2020-70020-33024
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $450,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2020-04222
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2020
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2023
• Grant Year: 2020
• Program Code: [A4182]- Regional FSMA Center

Recipient Organization
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
240 FRENCH ADMINISTRATION BLDG
PULLMAN,WA 99164-0001

Performing Department
Food Science

Non Technical Summary
Water is used in fruit and vegetable production for many purposes, including irrigation, frost protection, evaporative cooling, and protective sprays. This water can be a potential source of foodborne pathogen contamination and means of treating water in the field during application are being increasingly implemented for some segments of the fresh produce industry.Our team developed a one-day curriculum that educates growers on treatment options, critical factors for delivery, validation, verification, and monitoring activities when applying a water treatment. This four-module training has accompanying hands-on activities to practice key concepts, as well as video and virtual lab training aids. The curriculum has been well received, and the team cannot meet current requests for delivery of train-the-trainer and grower trainings nationwide without significant participant fees. Ultimately, this impacts small and medium-sized operations disproportionately as they do not have access to cost-effective resources to meet new market requirements tied to agricultural water treatment. Training participants have also expressed a need to expand the languages in which the educational videos are offered to help support training among diverse stakeholder groups. To fulfill these needs, the objectives of our Collaborative Education and Training Project are:Deploy curriculum to growers and trainers nationwide;Expand the languages in which educational videos are offered;Evaluate the short- and medium-term outcomes of education to growers through pre/post-tests, course evaluations, and post-delivery surveys.These efforts will allow growers, regardless of location, size or commodities grown, to understand, develop, implement, and document an effective agricultural water treatment system for their operation.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
712	0210	2000	25%
712	0210	1100	75%

Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
0210 - Water resources;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology; 2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

fsma

agricultural water

irrigation water

water treatment

Goals / Objectives
Objective 1. Deploy curriculum to growers and trainers nationwide;Objective 2. Expand the languages in which educational videos are offered;Objective 3. Evaluate the short- and medium-term outcomes of education to growers through pre/post-tests, course evaluations, and post-delivery surveys.

Project Methods
Objective 1. Curriculum deployment to growers and trainers across the United States.We will conduct six train-the-trainers, which will be hosted by team members as follows: 2021 - Arizona and Florida or virtually based upon COVID restrictions; 2022 - Virginia and Washington; 2023 - Tennessee/North Carolina and Georgia. We will coordinate through the National, Western, and Southern Centers as well as partner NGOs to recruit trainers from other states with a goal of engaging educators who work with a diverse array of farms. In doing so, we will efficiently cover the United States in disseminating this material, effectively increasing access to the curriculum content among growers who would not otherwise be reached.At least two grower trainings will be offered annually for the entirety of the project for each state. Flexibility has been provided for team members who have larger populations that are adopting agricultural water treatment to increase the number of trainings annually. The team plans on augmenting delivery in year 1 so that most of the training will likely take place virtually given COVID-19 restrictions. They plan to record field-based demonstrations of equipment and other hands-on activities in order to engage participants. Hands-on breakout sessions will be augmented for virtual delivery.Objective 2.Expand languages in which educational videos are offered.The NMSU team will arrange translation of existing English-language videos communicating background knowledge and key recommendations to audience members to create multilingual versions. Theoverall goal is to equip growers and workers who speak various languages with the knowledge to successfully implement, verify,and document water treatment systems on their farms.Objective 3.Evaluate the educational outcomes of agricultural water treatment programs delivered to fruit and vegetable growers.An outcome evaluation can be used to examine short- (intended and unintended changes in participants' knowledge, attitudes, skills, and aspirations), medium- (changes in behavior), and long-term outcomes (changes in social, economic, and environmental conditions). Expected changes occur at progressively longer intervals and subsequently become increasingly more difficult to evaluate (Taylor-Powell, Steele, & Douglah, 1996). Therefore, many evaluations focus on understanding short- and medium- term outcomes which are anticipated to lead to long-term improvements in effective and consistent treatment of agricultural water, and consequently food safety.An evaluation instrument developed by Dr. Amy Harder, the evaluation specialist who collaborated on the first FSOP project, will be used to measure attitudes towards agricultural water treatment technologies (including perceived cost/benefits of adoption), and intent to use water treatment technologies. Hard copies of the instrument will be delivered to participants and returned to PD Critzer for transcription into Qualtrics XM (SAP). Additionally, a 20-question pre- and post-test will be administered to participants to assess knowledge gain. Hard copies of the instrument will be delivered to participants, graded, percent increase in knowledge calculated, and reported.Similarly, the Theory of the Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003) will be used as the framework to measure participants' stage in the innovation-decision process as a means to determine medium-term outcomes. A six-month follow-up survey will be utilized to determine if growers changed any of their on-farm practices as a result of knowledge gained in the training or if they began to implement agricultural water treatment in their farming operations. This electronic survey will be administered using Qualtrics and will be sent to a census of participants six-months following training.

Progress 09/01/20 to 02/17/22

Outputs
Target Audience:There are two target audiences for this project. The first is fruit and vegetable growers who wish to learn more about treating agricultural water for their operations. There were a total of 63 growers trained during the reporting period. The second audience is produce and food safety educators from extension, non-profit organizations, and state governments who would like to be able to utilize the developed curriculum and associated materials to educate growers they work with on the topic. There were 88 educators which took part in train-the-trainer events during the reporting period There are two target audiences for this project. The first is fruit and vegetable growers who wish to learn more about treating agricultural water for their operations. There were a total of 63 growers trained during the reporting period. The second audience is produce and food safety educators from extension, non-profit organizations, and state governments who would like to be able to utilize the developed curriculum and associated materials to educate growers they work with on the topic. There were 88 educators which took part in train-the-trainer events during the reporting period Changes/Problems:As previously mentioned, Dr. Faith Critzer has changed positions and is now at the University of Georgia. Dr. Critzer will remain as PD of the project. To assure that project deliverables are obtained, she will continue to collaborate with the FSMA Western Regional Center to assure training opportunities for extension educators are ample within the region. Train-the-trainer dates are currently being set for that region for the 9/1/21-8/30/22 project year.? What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This work provided educators the opportunity to learn about preharvest agricultural water treatment, sanitizer chemistries, monitoring approaches, and corrective actions. Additionally, this information can also be beneficial for other food safety purposes, given the vital role sanitizer chemistries play in sanitization of food contact and adjoining packing areas. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This work provided educators the opportunity to learn about preharvest agricultural water treatment, sanitizer chemistries, monitoring approaches, and corrective actions. Additionally, this information can also be beneficial for other food safety purposes, given the vital role sanitizer chemistries play in sanitization of food contact and adjoining packing areas. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The PD has changed positions and is currently at the University of Georgia. We will work with NIFA administrators to move the project to UGA, which is already participating as a subaward. We plan on partnering with the North Central Region to offer a TTT for educators in their area in addition to continuing to cover the plan of work as initially described in objective 1 and 3 for educating other trainers as well as growers. Additionally, we plan on completing translation of all videos developed for the course into Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, and Hindi (objective 2). As described, worked has already commenced on translation into Spanish and Haitian Creole.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? ?Objective 1: The team pivoted to virtual instruction given limitations imposed by the pandemic which allowed for team teaching across states to serve our stakeholders duriing the reporting period. A total of 68 growers were trained on pertinent aspects of water treatment within the context of fruit and vegetable production. Additionally, a total of 88 educators from across the United States took part in the train-the-trainer workshops during the reporting period. Objective 2: Translations for Spanish and Haitian Creole were initiated during the reporting period for educational videos. Objective 3: Based upon pre- and post-test scores which evaluated key concepts of the material, the grower cohort had a 21.4% increase in knowledge and rated the workshop a 4.3 on a 5-point Likert scale, with anchored to 'very good' and 5 'excellent'. Through the responses from participants in the evaluation, they felt much more confident about making educated decisions when it came to selecting treatments for preharvest irrigation water and about discussing water chemistries commonly used on the farm, such as chlorine and peroxyacetic acid. Participants in the TTT course increased their knowledge of agricultural water treatment by 21.2% and the training received a mean rating of 4.53 on a 5-point Likert Scale, with the same anchors as described in the grower training. Amongst participants, 91.67% felt better equipped to discuss water treatment options with growers; 93.3% gained a better perspective for steps involved in treating preharvest water for food safety purposes; and 86.6% had a better understanding of sanitizer chemistries. Additionally, 59.3% of the participants denoted they intended to deliver content developed through this project to stakeholders that they worked with and 77.9% said they would utilize knowledge to support growers and those in allied industries when making decisions about agricultural water treatment.

Publications

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

Outputs
Target Audience:There are two target audiences for this project. The first is fruit and vegetable growers who wish to learn more about treating agricultural water fortheir operations. There were a total of 63 growers trained during the reporting period. The second audience is produce and food safety educators from extension, non-profit organizations, and state governments who would like to be able to utilize the developed curriculum and associated materials to educate growers they work with on the topic. There were 88 educators which took part in train-the-trainer events during the reporting period. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This work provided educators the opportunity to learn about preharvest agricultural water treatment, sanitizer chemistries, monitoring approaches, and corrective actions. Additionally, this information can also be beneficial for other food safety purposes, given the vital role sanitizer chemistries play in sanitization of food contact and adjoining packing areas. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have worked with the Western and Southern Regional FSMA Centers to publicize the events for greater recruitment of TTT participants as well as grower trainers. While we are looking forward to transitioning back to in-person trainings, we have tried to make the most of our virtual delivery platform to reach as many trainers and growers as feasible during the reporting period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan on partnering with the North Central Region to offer a TTT for educators in their area in addition to continuing to cover the plan of work as initially described in objective 1 and 3 for educating other trainers as well as growers. Additionally, we plan on completing translation of all videos developed for the course into Spanish, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, and Hindi (objective 2). As described, worked has already commenced on translation into Spanish and Haitian Creole.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: The team pivoted to virtual instruction given limitations imposed by the pandemic which allowed for team teaching across states to serve our stakeholders duriing the reporting period. A total of 68 growers were trained on pertinent aspects of water treatment within the context of fruit and vegetable production. Additionally, a total of 88 educators from across the United States took part in the train-the-trainer workshops during the reporting period. Objective 2: Translations for Spanish and Haitian Creole were initiated during the reporting period for educational videos. Objective 3:Based upon pre- and post-test scores which evaluated key concepts of the material, the grower cohort had a 21.4% increase in knowledge and rated the workshop a 4.3 on a 5-point Likert scale, with anchored to 'very good' and 5 'excellent'. Through the responses from participants in the evaluation, they felt much more confident about making educated decisions when it came to selecting treatments for preharvest irrigation water and about discussing water chemistries commonly used on the farm, such as chlorine and peroxyacetic acid. Participants in the TTT course increased their knowledge of agricultural water treatment by 21.2% and the training received a mean rating of 4.53 on a 5-point Likert Scale, with the same anchors as described in the grower training. Amongst participants, 91.67% felt better equipped to discuss water treatment options with growers; 93.3% gained a better perspective for steps involved in treating preharvest water for food safety purposes; and 86.6% had a better understanding of sanitizer chemistries. Additionally, 59.3% of the participants denoted they intended to deliver content developed through this project to stakeholders that they worked with and 77.9% said they would utilize knowledge to support growers and those in allied industries when making decisions about agricultural water treatment.

Publications