Source: CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION OF SULLIVAN COUNTY submitted to NRP
SULLIVAN COUNTY FOOD SAFETY OUTREACH PROGRAM
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1028661
Grant No.
2022-70020-37567
Cumulative Award Amt.
$205,000.00
Proposal No.
2022-01716
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 15, 2022
Project End Date
Jun 14, 2025
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[A4182]- Regional FSMA Center
Recipient Organization
CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
64 FERNDALE LOOMIS RD STE 1
LIBERTY,NY 12754
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County (CCESC) and our partners will expand existing Food Safety educational and outreach efforts primarily in Sullivan and Delaware Counties NY and Wayne County, PA, by working with our stakeholders and fruit and vegetable producers to increase technical assistance to producers exempt from the Produce Safety Rule, increase food safety training opportunities available in the region for small and medium sized farms, provide additional resources to producers covered by the Produce Safety Rule, and provide training and consulting opportunities for producers seeking a third-party Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) audit, through building the capacity of CCESC, with a focus on socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers. The long-term goals are to increase the amount of producers with food safety knowledge, increase the number of food safety trainings and workshop participants over the next two years, increase the number of producers with Food Safety Plans and GAP audits, increase the number of producers participating in the NYS Grown and Certified and the Farm to Food Bank programs, and increase the number of producers selling to the Catskills Food Hub and the Sullivan Fresh programs. The end result will be an increase in retail and wholesale markets for producers, while providing a safe, nutritious and secure food supply for consumers to purchase farm, fresh products, thus growing the agriculture economy in the region, preventing foodborne illnesses, protecting public health, and providing access to safe and nutritious food for low income communities. The project will expand on a previously funded Food Safety Outreach program by increasing our service area to include Wayne County, PA, connecting producers to our Farm to Food Bank program and working with the increasing number of new farmers in the region, of which socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers will be targeted.
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
71250101160100%
Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
1160 - Pathology;
Goals / Objectives
The goals and objectives of the Catskills Food Safety Outreach Program are to:Increase the food safety knowledge and training for small and medium sized agricultural producers in Sullivan and Delaware Counties, NY and Wayne County, PA by 60%, while decreasing the number of foodborne illnesses.Increase access to food safety educational resources for small and medium sized farms by developing an educational outreach program through social media, flyers, fact sheets, newsletter articles and one on one CCESC technical assistance, targeting socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers.Develop 10 food safety workshops by building capacity of CCESC staff and expanding existing food safety efforts.Host 3 Producer Safety Alliance Grower Trainings over 2 years.Provide training to CCEDC and PSEWC program staff on Food Safety so they can assist with providing resources for Delaware County and Wayne County producers.Schedule individual farm visits by CCESC to asses and provide food safety tech. assistance.Increase the number of producers with Food Safety Plans and GAP Audits in Sullivan and Delaware Counties, NY and Wayne County, PA.Assess pre-project the number of producers with Food Safety Plans and GAP audits with assistance from partners.Schedule individual farm visits by CCESC to assess and provide food safety technical assistance.20 farms will become Produce Safety Rule (PSR) recordkeeping compliant, of which 5 will be socially disadvantaged farms.3 producers will have received GAP audits.Increase the number of producers in Sullivan and Delaware Counties that are NYS Grown and Certified and have the ability to sell to the Catskills Food Hub, the Farm to Food Bank program and the Sullivan Fresh program.Work with partners to implement Food Safety Educational Outreach Plan (from Obj. #1).Host 2 NYS Grown and Certified informational workshopsHost food safety workshops (as part of Objective #1)3 producers will become NYS Grown and CertifiedIncrease the number of producers selling to the Hub and Sullivan Fresh by 20%Increase access to safe and nutritious food for low income communities and decrease foodborne illnesses.The Hub will increase the number of small and medium sized producers with Food Safety Plans or GAP audits by 20%, which in turn will increase access to safe and nutritious foods for low income communities through distribution programs such as Farm to School and the Sullivan Fresh Mobile Market and Community Cupboard program.Sullivan Fresh Market on the Move (Mobile Farmers Market) and the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard will increase purchases from the Hub from small and medium sized farms with Food Safety plans or GAP audits by 20%.Provide safe food handling demonstrations at the mobile farmers market stops to 400 low income consumers through CCESC certified ServeSafe staff.
Project Methods
All data will be used to assess progress towards activity/output benchmarks, changes in participants knowledge, skills, and/or behavior, identify areas for improvement or adjustment in approach(es), and program quality. Pre-post evaluation tools will help to determine knowledge gained and economic impact of project to their farm. Data triangulation using three different sources of data: outputs, engagement/retention rates, surveys, and publicly available farm data, all tools in which can be shared across similar projects. Participant knowledge of food safety will be measured at the beginning, mid-point, and end of the project. Participants input will be gathered through maintaining attendance and activity records, and implementing surveys and evaluation stakeholder meetings, with assistance from the stakeholders. On site farm visits will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the program and continued needs of small and medium sized producers. Benchmarks and indicators will be solidified by site at the start of the project and used to measure progress and success. Baseline benchmarks will track the number of producers (and if available SDF and VF) required and exempt from PSR and current knowledge of food safety. Percentage increases in producer attendance at workshops, selling to the Hub, NYS Grown and Certified the Sullivan Fresh program and food safety knowledge will be measured through post workshop or activity feedback surveys and publicly available NYS data.

Progress 06/15/23 to 06/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:For this reporting period, we have worked directly with farmers located within Sullivan County, Delaware County, and Wayne County, PA. The farmers were primarily of white ethnicity and ranged in age. As part of the Food Safety outreach to consumers, we served community members at public farmers' markets. The demographics included a mixture of white, black, hispanic and Asian ethnicities, along with a range of ages. The efforts used to deliver the information to the above target audiences included virtual workshops, recorded webinar trainings and direct community outreach at a public farmers' market and tabling events. Changes/Problems:Staffing changes at partner organizations delayed some outreach and workshops from being completed at originally planned times. In the end, these issues were sorted out with finding new points of contact within those organizations. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Continued efforts have been focused on one-on-one technical assistance for this grant reporting time frame. In addition, there has been scheduled workshops that have been delivered on Food Safety topics. Further webinars and workshops are being scheduled for the remainder of the grant including PSR trainings. Professional development is ongoing with access to Cornell University Produce Safety team's dissemination of updates to the federal rule. Additional train-the-trainer workshop has been completed in May to gain additional knowledge and understanding in the updates to the new water regulations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have distributed educational materials to consumers and farmers at public farmers markets and outreach events, continued to updated our food safety section on our website, mailed and emailed food safety factsheet and guidance documents. In addition our partner organizations have also assisted in distribution of information to their respective farms/producers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we plan to accomplish our goals by continuing to implement the Food Safety Outreach plan with our partners. This includes outreach via mail, email, brochures, 8 webinars/workshops on food safety topics, one-on-one technical assistance to farms looking to increase their food safety knowledge, become compliant with the PSR, and increase the number of farms that are grown and certified and have a food safety plan.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? • 3 additional producers are becoming NYS Grown and Certified • Outreach for Wayne and Delaware County farmers has continued and scheduling of FSMA trainings has been established for this time period. • Working with partners to establish goals and training opportunities with the Food Safety Educational Outreach Plan. • 15 farms are in the process of increasing their knowledge of food safety practices on their farm with technical assistance • Working with 10 farms on record keeping compliance for the PSR • Increased the number of producers in Sullivan and Delaware Counties that are NYS Grown and Certified and have the ability to sell to the Catskills Food Hub, the Farm to Food Bank program and the Sullivan Fresh program

Publications


    Progress 06/15/22 to 06/14/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:For this reporting period, we have worked directly with farmers located within Sullivan County and Wayne County, PA. The farmers were primarily of white ethnicity and ranged in age. As part of the Food Safety outreach to consumers, we served community members at public farmers' markets. The demographics included a mixture of white, black, hispanic and asian ethnicities, along with a range of ages. The efforts used to deliver the information to the above target audiences included virtual workshops, recorded webinar trainings and direct community outreach at a public farmers' market. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Currently individualized training is being provided to farmers within the region by one-on-one technical assistance. Group webinars and workshops are being planned to begin in the winter. Professional development is ongoing with access to Cornell University Produce Safety team's dissemination of updates to the federal rule. In addition, increased training for the PSR Water Regulations has been completed in March, Bridging the GAPs: Approaches for treating Preharvest Ag Water On-farm. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have distributed educational materials to consumers and farmers at public farmers markets, updated our food safety section on our website, mailed and emailed food safety factsheet and guidance documents. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we plan to accomplish our goals by implementing the Food Safety Outreach plan with our partners. This includes outreach via mail, email, brochures, 10 webinars/workshops on food safety topics, one-on-one technical assistance to farms looking to increase their food safety knowledge, become compliant with the PSR, and increase the number of farms that are grown and certified and have a food safety plan.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? 3 additional producers are becoming NYS Grown and Certified Outreach for Wayne and Delaware County farmers has begun and scheduling of PSR and FSMA topics training has been established Working with partners to implement the Food Safety Educational Outreach Plan 4 farms are in the process of increasing their knowledge of food safety practices on their farm with technical assistance Working with 8 farms on record keeping compliance for the PSR Sullivan Fresh Market on the Move (Mobile Farmers Market) and the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard increased purchases from the Hub from small and medium sized farms with Food Safety plans or GAP audits by 20%.

    Publications