DEVELOPING RISK-ASSESSMENT, EDUCATIONAL, AND COMMUNICATION TOOLS TO LOWER FOOD SAFETY BARRIERS FOR ORGANIC SPECIALTY CROP GROWERS

Long-term Goal: reduce operational and administrative barriers to compliance with multiple regulations by equipping organic growers and stakeholders with evidence-based tools and training to meet both NOP standards and food safety requirements.Goal/Objective 1. Lower operational food safety barriers for organic growers by developing a practical, user-friendly risk-assessment and decision-making tool for organic soil amendments. We will comprehensively synthesize and translate food safety evidence on organic soil amendments into practical, user-friendly risk-assessment and decision-making tools for growers to assist them in selecting and managing organic soil amendments. There is a wide range of organic soil amendments available to growers, and significant challenges on both the administrative side (e.g., finding a reliable and up-to-date supplier, managing the necessary records) and the operational side (e.g., differentiating risk profiles and validated treatment methods among different amendment types). The deliverable will be practical guidance, in the form of a publicly-accessible decision dashboard that can be customized to meet the specific needs of organic growers operating under different cropping systems and in different regions.Goal/Objective 2. Lower administrative food safety barriers for organic growers by developing, demonstrating, and evaluating a suite of extension and outreach materials aimed at bringing all organic produce stakeholders--including organic growers, farm advisors, and organic and food safety auditors and certifiers, and buyers--to a common understanding of the unique food safety risks and farm management strategies specific to organic agriculture of fruit and vegetable crops covered by the Produce Safety Rule. The deliverables will include region-specific training programs, train-the-trainer modules on how to teach the decision dashboard and disseminate effective organic food safety management and communication strategies, online training modules, and multimedia communication tools that will be piloted, demonstrated, evaluated, and made publicly available for nationwide use.