Learn about co-managing food safety and conservation on produce and specialty-crop farms in a webinar hosted by Wild Farm Alliance, Oregon Tilth and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
NEW DATE! - On-Farm Food Safety and Conservation Webinar
New Date: May 14, 2014
Time: 12:00 PM Pacific / 3:00 PM Eastern
Registration: Please register at:
Food safety is becoming a prominent feature of produce and specialty-crop farm operations. While conflicts with conservation and food safety may occur, steps can be taken to diminish them. This webinar addresses both the theory and practice of co-managing food safety and conservation. The first half of the webinar covers details on how pathogens get on the farm, the prevalence of pathogens in animal populations, and information on environmental factors that influence pathogen reduction. The second half of the webinar introduces a multi-barrier approach to addressing on-farm food safety issues. This approach combines multiple conservation practices and food safety Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) to minimize food safety concerns. If one practice/barrier fails, others are in place to prevent contamination of crops and water supplies.
About the Speaker:
Jo Ann Baumgartner, Director, Wild Farm Alliance (WFA): Jo Ann works on conservation, food safety and organic issues and is co-editor of Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature. Before joining WFA in 2001, Jo Ann addressed sustainable dairy, produce and fiber-production topics, was senior research editor of Life on the Edge, a book of California's rare wildlife species and was an organic farmer for over a decade.
Additional Food Safety & Conservation Resources:
If you haven't already, check out the food-safety resources for farmers and food-safety auditors co-published by WFA and Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF):
A Farmer's Guide to Food Safety & Conservation:
Facts, Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
This guide includes:
- An introduction to the basic factors that affect the survival and movement of food-borne pathogens on the farm.
- An overview of how healthy diverse ecosystems can help to keep pathogens in check.
- Frequently asked questions that address all things food safety---from wildlife and compost issues, to CSA members visiting the farm.
- Tips on how to have a successful food safety inspection.
- Additional resources.
Click on the link to download your copy:http://bit.ly/WFA_FoodSafetyFarmerGuide
Training Scenarios for USDA and Third Party Auditors on the
Co-management of Food Safety and Conservation
as well as Small Farm Concerns
Written to assist food-safety auditors in better understanding natural-resource-conservation and small-farm concerns, these training scenarios are created to use alongside the USDA Produce GAPs Harmonized Food Safety Standards. The scenarios address typical issues of any food safety audit. They will aid auditors in recognizing situations where farmers use conservation practices that reduce food safety risks, when beneficial actions support natural processes, and when improvement is needed. They also address small-farm issues related to food safety, such as friends and family visiting the farm, pets on the farm and mixed operations that grow produce as well as raise livestock. Auditors who work for, or are accredited by, USDA can receive continuing education units. At the end of the training, a Certificate of Completion can be downloaded. Farmers can suggest that their food-safety auditor review these training scenarios on co-management and small-farm issues before visiting their farm, so that the auditor will be better informed when s/he arrives for the audit. Farmers may also find value in reviewing these training scenarios, and may want to reference them, if a food safety auditor who has not seen these materials is already on the farm and needs clarification. Click on the link to review the training scenarios: http://bit.ly/WFA_FoodSafetyTrainingScenarios