Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, the project team reached out to several underserved fresh produce-growing communties in the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas and beyond through seven in-person food safety training workshops across Rio Grande Valley and one webinar which was attended by audience from different parts of Texas. The target audience in these training workshops included,but not limited to,beginning (85), women (40), young(40), limited-resource (30),farmer of color (19), LGBTQIA farmers (11), and veteran farmers (5). Changes/Problems:The food safety trainin workshops conducted in this project were highly successful and well received by the target audience. The participants, primarily under-resourced minority farmers sees great value by attending these trainings. This resulted in requests to conduct more trainings from other community based organizations for their constituents. To meet this demand the project team palnning to conduct additional training workshops. Majority of the target audience (small and very small farmers) in the Rio Grande Valley region are not GAP certification ready. Theyrequiremore time to implement learned food safety practices through this project in their operations. Additionally, they need more training in understanding GAP certification requirements and utilize available resources to prepare for GAP certifications. The project team anticipated this challange and providing technical assistance accrodingly. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training workshops conducted as part of this project were well received by the participants and through word-of-mouth more requests to conduct additional trainings were received by the project director. The project provided opportunities for the agricultural and biological sciences stduents at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, as well as produce growers in the region to obtain additional training and PSA grower training certification. These trainers are helping the PD and Co-PD while conducting training workshops. The graduate and undergraduate students involved in this project were able to present the findings of the project at the regional (Texas Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers Conference) and national (Souther Center Semi-annual meetings). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated through presentations at regional and national conferences and meetings: (i) Texas Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers Conference-2024 (ii) Southern Family Farms and Food Systems -2024, and (iii) SC Center Semi-annual meetings -2024 held at Savvanah, GA and Longbeach, CA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project team is planning to accomplish following goals by next reporting period: 1. Offer three more food safety training workshops for the underserved growers in the Rio Grande Valley. 2. Provide technical assitance and guidance on USDA-GAP certification process and requirements. 3. Create more trainers and train-the-trainers to serve food safety educational and training needs of the region. 4. Conduct a follow-up evaluation survey to measure the change in attitude and implementiation of food safety practices of participants who attended our training workshops. 5. Analyze pre- and post-training survey data and share the findings through a publication and presentation at Southern Regional Integrated Produce Safety (SRIPS) 2025 conference. 6. Present the project findings at FSOP project directors meeting webinars to be held in September 2024.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Customized food safety educational materials covering different topics were developed in both English and Spanish languages. A produce food safety guide book was developed in both languages. A total of seven in-person training workshops were conducted with over 175 participants attended these trainings. A webinar "Unlock USDA GAP Certification- A produce safety webinar for small farms" was conducted in partnership with National Farmers Union-Local Food Safety Collaborative. This webinar was attended by over 25 small and very small growers in Texas. Objective 2: During this reporting period, four new PSA grower trainers and one train-the-trainer were developed. The cadre of trainers developed through this project were able to assist in the deploymnet of food safety trainings. Objective 3: An external evaluator analyzed the impact of education, training, and outreach activities and provided an evaluation report for this evaulation period. Project team conducted a separate pre and post-training survey to evaluate knowledge gain and identify other food safety educational needs.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Arianna Hernandez, Sairithin Reddy Kothurthirupathi, and Veerachandra Yemmireddy (2024)Closing GAPS: Food Safety Education and Outreach to Underserved Communities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Texas Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers Conference 2024, April 24, McAllen, TX (Poster Presentation)
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:During this review period, underserved small and very small Hispanic fresh produce growers and ranchers, community-based organizations that are serving Hispanic grower communities in the Rio Grande Valley region of south Texas, undergraduate and graduate students pursuing BS in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems and MS in Agricultural, environmental, and sustainability sciences and MS in biology degrees at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley were targeted through various outreach and training activities. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Partnered with community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations and several outreach activities were planned to reach underserved growers. PD and Co-PD continuously interacted with advisory panel and other growers to seek feedback and help develop effective training programs. The project has provided opportunities for several agricultural and biological sciences degree seeking students at the UTRGV to develop as produce safety trainers and assist in project activities and provide technical assistance. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The developed curriculum was discussed with advisory panel and other grower communities to seek feedback and areas of improvement. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Several training workshops are planned to deploy in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Furthermore, a plan to provide technical assistance through one-on-one and group sessions was planned in Spring 2024 and Summer 2024. An evaluation plan was developed to determine the impact of the project and understand behavioral change among growers in implementing food safety practices in their operations.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Recruited new graduate student assistants to assist in the project activities; 2 Four new members in the project team received PSA grower training and developed as trainers and train-the-trainer to assist in grower training workshops; 3. PD has attended the FSOP project directors meeting held on May 31st- June 1st, 2023, in Tampa, Florida to share the project updates, interact, and learn from the other FSOP projects; 4. PD has provided project progress updates to lead regional centers to share during their semi-annual meetings; 5. Customized culturally relevant produce safety curriculum materials and relevant hands-on activities were developed; 6. A pilot workshop was conducted and solicited feedback from the stakeholders; 7. Project external evaluator developed an evaluation scheme to deploy before, during and after the training workshops; 8 Several training workshops were scheduled for Fall 2023 and Spring 2024.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:During this review period, underserved small and very small hispanic fresh produce growers and ranchers, community-based organizations that are serving hispanic grower communities in the Rio Grande Valley region of south Texas, undergraduate and graduate students pursuing BS and MS degrees in agricultural sciences and biology degrees at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley were targeted through various outreach and training activities. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Two graduate students pursuing Masters in Agricultural, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences (Mr. Matthew Mancias), master's in biology (Ms. Nirmala Sharma) and one undergraduate student pursuing BS in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (Ms. Arianna Hernandez) attended PSA grower training workshop and received trainer certificate to support project activities as a part of project team. Project external evaluator worked along with the community-based organizations who are collaborating in this project and developed project evaluation scheme and metrics for evaluation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? PD attended the Southern Regional Center for FSMA Training Annual Meeting held on January 6, 2022, in Savannah, GA and presented the project progress updates and ongoing activities to the attendees. PD attended the 4th Texas Hispanic Farmer and Rancher Conference held on January 12-13, 2022, in Edinburg, TX and presented the project updates and plan of outreach activities to grower communities. Ms. Arianna Hernandez, an undergraduate student in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems who is working as an undergraduate assistant in this project presented a poster titled "sustainable food safety systems to mitigate the risk of microbial contaminations in the fresh produce environment" at UTRGV College of Sciences virtual Annual Research Conference held on November 19, 2021. PD attended FSOP project directors meeting held on May 25-26, 2022, in Orlando, Florida to share the project updates, interact and learn from the other FSOP projects PD presented project scope, objectives, and progress at Southern Regional Center for FSMA training semi-annual meetings held on July 31, 2022, in Pittsburg, PA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period, the project team and collaborating CBOs and NGOs planning to deploy developed curriculum and conduct the training workshops across the lower rio grande valley region of south texas reaching out to underserved hispanic fresh produce growers. Planning to provide opportunties forlocal growers, agricultural students and other professionals to become trainers and lead trainers to createa technical assistance network for supporting the food safety needs of local food systems. Impact of project activities on the participantsknowledge gain, adoption of food safety practices, change in practicesand behaviour were systematically evaluated. Techanical assistance will be provided to growersin developing farm food safety plan and improve their ability to obtain group GAP certifications to improve their market access.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Project goals and plan activities were widely distributed among underserved grower communities in the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas, next generation of food and agricultural professionals serving the local needs, and other stakeholders through various outreach activities (Texas Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers Conference-2022, SC regional center annual and semi-annual meetings-2022, Focused group meetings with growers and collaborating community-based organizations such as Frontera Farmers Coalition, UTRGV COS Annual Research Conference 2021) An advisory panel was formed involving a project team and grower collaborators. PD attended the Southern Regional Center for FSMA Training Annual Meeting held on January 6, 2022, in Savannah, GA and presented the project progress updates and ongoing activities to the attendees. PD attended the 4th Texas Hispanic Farmer and Rancher Conference held on January 12-13, 2022, in Edinburg, TX and presented the project updates and plan of outreach activities to grower communities. PD attended FSOP project directors meeting held on May 25-26, 2022, in Orlando, Florida to share the project updates, interact and learn from the other FSOP projects PD presented project scope, objectives, and progress at Southern Regional Center for FSMA training semi-annual meetings held on July 31, 2022, in Pittsburg, PA. Customized produce safety training curriculum based on local grower needs consisting of seven modules namely Introduction to food safety, worker health and hygiene, soil amendments, animal intrusion, agricultural water, postharvest handling and sanitation, food safety regulations and developing farm food safety plan was developed. Two graduate students pursuing Masters in Agricultural, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences (Mr. Matthew Mancias), master's in biology (Ms. Nirmala Sharma) and one undergraduate student pursuing BS in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (Ms. Arianna Hernandez) attended PSA grower training workshop and received trainer certificate to support project activities as a part of project team. Project team involving (PD, Co-PDs, External evaluator) conducted focused group meetings with grower collaborators to identify specific educational and training needs and develop a plan for outreach based on the feedback and inputs from the grower collaborators and advisory panel. Project external evaluator facilitated conversation with stakeholders about expected project processes and outcomes to solidify a shared vision. Developed criterion for evaluation rubric for designing measures and assessing findings.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Hernandez, A., and Yemmireddy, V. (2021) Sustainable food safety systems to mitigate the risk of microbial contaminations in the fresh produce environment. UTRGV College of Science Annual Research Conference, NOV 19, 2021; Poster # 4, Session PO6.
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