Source: ORGANIZATION FOR REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT SUCCESS submitted to NRP
FOOD SAFETY OUTREACH FOR EMERGING NEW AMERICAN AND BEGINNER FARMERS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1028717
Grant No.
2022-70020-37572
Cumulative Award Amt.
$205,000.00
Proposal No.
2022-01739
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2022
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2025
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[A4182]- Regional FSMA Center
Recipient Organization
ORGANIZATION FOR REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT SUCCESS
521 MAPLE ST
MANCHESTER,NH 031044949
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
ORIS has operated an incubator farming program with resettled refugee and other immigrant ("New American") beginning farmers since 2008 and launched a regional food hub during 2020.This project will leverage that experience to deliver linguistically and culturally food safety education and outreach with these target populations that adhere to Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training content standards and result in AFDO certification. Training for farmers will be adapted to producers by translating materials and content to two languages (Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda), as well as providing cultural context and appropriately pacing instruction for audiences with limited English language proficiency. These adaptations will help the targeted producers' and processors' attainment of this certification, and will allow ORIS's nascent Fresh Start Farms Food Hub to remain complaint with Food Safety and Modernization Act standards and regulations and expand its mission of delivering local, affordable food to all residents of southern New Hampshire.?
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
71214993020100%
Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
ORIS has operated an incubator farming program with resettled refugee and other immigrant ("New American") beginning farmers since 2008 and launched a regional food hub during 2020.This project will leverage that experience to deliver linguistically and culturally food safety education and outreach with these target populations that adhere to Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training content standards and result in AFDO certification. These producers' and processors' attainment of this certification will allow ORIS's nascent Fresh Start Farms Food Hub to remain complaint with Food Safety and Modernization Act standards and regulations and expand its mission of delivering local, affordable food to all residents of southern New Hampshire.Objective 1: 8 ORIS staff / interpreters complete the Produce Safety Alliance's (PSA) Train-the-Trainer and, for the Project Director and Food Safety Advisor, the PSA's Lead Trainer Supplemental Application, to competently deliver the full Grower Training course and refresher courses with New American farmers and other small- and medium-sized food producers and processors, beginning farmers, and socially disadvantaged farmers throughout New Hampshire.Objective 2: 25 New American farmers and at least 25 other small, beginning, and/or socially disadvantaged farmers, producers, and processors complete the seven-module PSA Grower Training curriculum and receive an AFDO certificate. At least 25 of these individuals complete at least one Refresher Course before the end of the project period.Objective 3: 95% of project participants who complete the PSA Grower Training and receive an AFDO certificate will, on linguistically appropriate surveys, demonstrate a basic understanding of the major subjects, six months following their receipt of certification.
Project Methods
ORIS staff from the incubator farms and the Food Hub and interpreters who frequently assist these farmers will complete (1) the PSA Grower Training course (a prerequisite for the Train-the-Trainer course) and (2) the PSA Train-the-Trainer course.The Project Director and Food Safety Advisor, as this project's primary instructors, will complete applications for and pass evaluation to become PSA Lead Trainers. This will allow both of these staff to provide PSA Grower Training and Refresher Course curriculum independently (back-up trainings by other ORIS PSA Trainer staff would be conducted in trainer pairs). These applications will be filed with PSA shortly following completion of the PSA Train-the-Trainer course and certification. Staff will work with translators to appropriately customize and translate key Grower Training and Refresher Course content into Swahili and Kinyarwanda, in coordination with the PSA Program Coordinator at Cornell University. Beyond just the language of the content, staff will also work to adapt the training to better contextualize the content for new American learnings. Linguistically and culturally appropriate outreach and support to this project's two target groups to maximize participation in Grower Trainings and Refresher Courses will lead to a total of at least 50 participants in at least 4 in-person grower trainings, and 12 virtual refresher courses during the remaining project period. As participants in ORIS's farm incubator program are trained, ORIS willconduct voluntary FSMA compliance audits and share templates for / provide technical assistance with using Food Safety Plans.

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:ORIS Staff: Throughout the reporting period, 8 ORIS staff have completed the PSA Grower Training and earned certificates. Furthermore, one staff member has received Trainer status. Fresh Start Farmers: So far, 26 beginning, low-resource, socially-disadvantaged farmers have been the target audience for our linguistically and culturally appropriate food safety TA. In the winter of 2023, training was module focused but the PSA curriculum was not yet used. Winter Workshops focused on farmer hygiene and handwashing, post harvest handling and wildlife management. Throughout the spring and summer of 2023, farmers were provided one-on-one and group TA utilizing onsite demonstrations. Changes/Problems:This past year the head of our FSOP actions, Jameson Smalls, left ORIS, leaving a gap in the primary communications and implementations for the program. It took some time to readjust, but now Tom McGee is heading the program. His preexisting relationships with the farmers and familiarity with ORIS operations has made for a smooth transition. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In March of 2024 we provided PSA training in English with a trainer from the University of New Hampshire. 25 farmers participated in this training. In April we followed this up with another training in both English and Kinyarwanda for an additional 15 farmers. In March we also held Food Safety Mini Workshops inKinyarwanda. Last year we had one staff member recieve Train-the-Trainer Certification. This enabled us to have three more staff members gain PSAGrower Certification this year, as well as two additional Train-the-Trainer Certifications. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we plan to expand on our successes up to this point and further improve our policies. Specifically, we intend to ensure that all new hires recieve both PSA certification and Train-The-Trainer Certification for PSA. We will also develop PYO Core Policies and Procedures. We will make a Recall Plan, a Compost Safety Plan, an Irrigation Water Mitigation Plan for our Boscawen farm, and we will update our Farm Food Safety Plans as needed. In addition to the new and updated plans and trainings we are also going to createfarm-specific Food Safety Chats in WhatsApp. This will allow staff and farmers to interact more seemlessly and communicate updates on Food Safety as needed.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In the past period we hae made several improvements to our Food Safety Plans and Outreach. In January and Febrary2024 we updated Food Safety Plans specific to each farm location to ensure staff and farmers knew all relevant policies and procedures. In May we conducted wash/pack procedure training. This covered cleaning and sanitizing wash and pack surfaces to ensure sanitary conditions for food shipping and distribution. We also updated our on-farm facilities with new and additional sinks, easier to sanitize drying racks, and replinished cleaning supplies including soaps, scrubbers, paper towels, and sanitizer tablets. We also performed Food Safety Risk Assessments with all 20 of our market farmers in June. We made passing this assessment a requirement to participate in market opportunities at our Fresh Start Farms, and all the farmers passed this assessment.

Publications