Developing A Coordinated Effort Within Iowa to Implement An Infrastructure, Education, Technical Assistance, and Inventory Program in Alignment With The Fda's Produce Safety Rule

Developing a Coordinated Effort within Iowa to Implement an Infrastructure, Education,Technical Assistance, and Inventory Program in Alignment with the FDA's Produce Safety RuleProject Description: In March 2016 the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship(IDALS) was made aware of the FDA FOA# PAR-16-137. IDALS established a Produce SafetyRule steering committee to begin development of a state program that will encourage safeproduce production, and promote compliance with PSR. The state's program outlined in thisproposal will build upon the work accomplished to date by NASDA, established partnershipswith additional states, associations and stakeholders.Project Goals: The proposed project will establish a coalition of produce and food safetyexperts, from within IDALS and Iowa State University. Steering committee members and subawardees will provide the leadership, policy and technical expertise needed to completejurisdictional self-assessments, planning, farm inventory, infrastructure development, multi-yearplanning, education and outreach and technical assistance, and any needed legislativeresearch. The goal is compilation of an inventory, assessments needs, training, and a strategicplan for alignment of state programs and activities with FDA's PSR.Expected Outcomes: We believe that the partnerships and plans that will emerge from thework outlined in this proposal will create a strong and viable approach to safe fresh fruit andvegetable production in Iowa - leveraged off of the federal-state relationship and the existingexpertise at the state and sub-grantee levels. This will result in a consistent andsuccessful infrastructure, education, technical assistance, and inventory program.Project Objectives: 1) Perform a self-assessment and multi-year planning of the state'scapacity and needs to under the "Competition A" track. Project over five years program needsincluding budget needs, research needs, and any needed changes to infrastructure capacities.2) Identify metrics & develop models for training, technical support/assistance, informationtechnology, legislative research, and farm inventory. 3) Determine long term goals andmilestones for producers in aligning their farms and facilities with FDA's produce rule andidentifying the resources needed for implementation of the aligned requirements.