Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project are DMV-based small scale farmers and food producers, chefs, proctors and other business owners in the food industry. Another target audience is tech service providers that support food production industries. Changes/Problems:In our efforts to increase market access to farmers and food producers, we have made tremendous progress in our program infrastructure, outreach and implementation. Some of the challenges we have had with the ServSafe training program have been with logistics while some of the challenges we have faced with the Track and Trace App project have been more around communication. Securing affordable venue space to offer the ServSafe training with access to kitchen space and accessible parking posed a challenge in the beginning of the project. Some of our venue options were out of range and too costly without accounting for food and some of the accessibility options we wanted to offer to registrants such as 50/50 cost share and stipends. This has had a minimal impact on our project as we have secured a reliable venue with Prince George's County Community College that we can access at low cost for the amount of hours needed to conduct the training and administer the exam. During the pre-development phase of the Track and Trace app development, KRPM and OSW/GET faced some initial communication issues around the process of gaining farmer input on the app requirements which resulted in project delays. The 90-question survey presented to farmers was too long and was not as accessible or effective to obtain the data needed. This data gathering phase also coincided with a busy part of the farm season which meant the timeline needed to be adjusted. Another challenge the team faced in communications with KRPM was a technical knowledge gap specifically on blockchain technology which was crucial to OSW/GET's ability to provide back-end requirements to close out the pre-development phase. OSW/GET expected KRPM to provide pertinent technical information so that we could make informed decisions. The knowledge gap became a significant barrier in the pathway forward and resulted in a temporary pause in the project as we awaited key information to decide on which back-end requirements were necessary to continue to the development phase of the project. Due to this, GET had to retain the services of an IT professional to assist with drafting the back office requirements. KRPM and OSW/GET came to an agreement to finalize the back end requirements and will begin the development of the application in Quarter 1. Another unintended challenge in implementing Goal 2 of the project has been securing farmer interest in GAP training due to conflicts on farm sites and logistics to complete a successful training. The OSW/GET team is considering offering a Food Safety 101 training instead to still provide farmers with food safety protocol information in a way that is more accessible and feasible. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided Servsafe training and certification for farmers and food producers to be equipped with food safety training compliant with FSMA requirements. Because of this, participants have gained broadened awareness of FSMA requirements and protocols. Our project has also provided participants with business resources to develop value added products accompanied with access to commercial kitchen space at no cost. The project has provided professional development insight in the Track and Trace gathering sessions by providing knowledge and application awareness of how blockchain technology could be used to grow and scale their farm enterprise. Most importantly, farmers and food producers involved in our project have built relationships with fellow business owners resulting in a resource share for professional development and collaboration opportunities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project's information dissemination has relied heavily on social media for event outreach. We have utilized email and Zoom for communication and virtual meetings for ServSafe and Track And Trace outreach. We shared our FSOP project goals and functions with stakeholders in an OSW-sponsored "How We Did It" Webinar to increase awareness of the FSOP grant opportunity and of the process of writing our Demystifying FSMA project proposal. Disseminating project information in webinar form has proven to be successful with over 75 registrants and 30 live participants. We have made the recording available to all registrants to continue access to viewership. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we plan to conduct 3 more ServSafe trainings with a goal of at least 15 participants for each Cohort (we are aiming to host trainings in both DC and Virginia since the first two took place in Maryland). We will continue to build relationships with chefs and proctors to support the program and offer more resources and opportunities to participants outside of training. A major goal of ours is to develop a more targeted approach for folks to access the commercial kitchen space offered. We hope to expand this offering based on interest and need especially as we partner with more DMV-based chefs. In the next reporting period, we will enter the app development phase with KRPM beginning end-user engagement and close out our project with end-user testing of the beta product to test and implement a mock recall exercise. This milestone will be pivotal in assessing the viability of the product for farmers and administrators which will allow us to understand the sustainability and scale needs of the product for its official launch. Finally, we plan to introduce a Food Safety 101 training through CAIC in place of GAP training as originally planned.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Under the collaboration of Good Earth Therapy and OurSpace World Inc, the Demystifying FSMA project successfully ran the first Servsafe training cohort on June 1st and began preparation to launch the second cohort in quarter 4 of 2024. A major part of this success was building relationships with DMV-based chefs and proctors to support our program outreach, implementation, and post-exam support for farmers as they seek to grow their business and expand markets. Outreach was conducted by hosting a ServSafe virtual info session and relying on word-of-mouth to boost interest and awareness of the program. 15 people enrolled and passed the ServSafe training exam in Cohort I, a 100% success rate. Providing a 50/50 upfront cost share was another contributor to success as we were able to close some of the economic barriers facing farmers which made our program more accessible. We were also able to provide scholarships, childcare, and parking stipends to participants upon request which also increased access for participants by meeting their needs. Another accomplishment attributed to our efforts has been additional networking that has taken place from participants who have connected during their program. Overall, we have equipped a total of 28 farmers and food producers with food safety training and increased awareness in marketing, business opportunities and potential commercial kitchen space access. In this reporting period, we have made tremendous headway in our efforts to build a track and trace app in order for small scale farmers to systematically capture wholesale and institutional market sale data (Goal 2). With our partnership with KRPM, the preliminary "track and trace" app requirements have been confirmed to initiate the development process for end-user engagement and end-user testing that will take place in the 1st quarter of 2025. We first initiated a farmer engagement strategy which consisted of hosting 4 virtual sessions to gather input on the app interface design, farmer usability and data collection functions. A total of 9 farmers attended the sessions offered. 6 out of the 9 were actively farming. These sessions were critical to OSW, GET and KRPM as it allowed the team to gain clarity on what functions were necessary to provide a viable product to farmers and our stakeholders. KRPM developed and shared a 90-question survey for farmers to provide feedback on app requirements which provided needed information and insight on farmers' priorities and data needs that they wished to be available in the application. KRPM proposed the Track and Trace App Requirements which consisted of the technical functionality of the app including block-chain integration, user profiles, information visibility and more. The team approved and signed off on the app requirements, hitting a major milestone in our project timeline. We began the process of selecting the back-end office requirements which consists of management and app security functions which is the next step needed to finalize the front-end and back-end app requirements to complete the track and trace pre-development phase.
Publications
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