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<p>This project will address the need to expand our outreach efforts to provide Food Safety - Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) training and technical assistance in support of an ongoing, multi-state, collaborative initiative to assist small and limited resource farmers to sell produce to commercial buyers (Wal-Mart and others.)</p><p>The objectives are to:(1) Increase the number of personnel involved in the food safety GAP outreach program(2) Provide food safety GAP experiential learning opportunities to undergraduate students with the aim of constructing a "Food Safety GAP Administration" option(3) Develop baseline data to support further research with small farms in areas key to food safety GAP, e.g., water quality, pesticide residues, and operational record keeping. The activities undertaken will be: food safety GAP presentations and workshops / trainings; on-farm, food safety GAP educational audits, and; pre-audit preparation and technical assistance. These activities will focus on extension efforts within the discipline of Agriculture, and will also leverage teaching and research resources and capabilities through directed student involvement and linkage with current research programs. The potential impact of this project is an increase in small and limited resource farmers who enhance their profitability through supplying produce to commercial buyers and a greater employment of students from 1890 institutions as food safety certification auditors and consultants. </p>
This project expands our outreach efforts to provide Food Safety - Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) training and technical assistance to small and limited resource farmers in support of an ongoing, multi-state, collaborative initiative to assist them to sell produce to commercial buyers (Wal-Mart and others.)The objective is to increase the food safety GAP outreach program, while providing experiential learning opportunities to undergraduate students and supporting research with small farms in areas such as water quality, pesticide residues, and record keeping. The activities undertaken will be: presentations and workshops / trainings; on-farm educational audits, and; pre-audit preparation and technical assistance. These activities will focus on extension efforts and leverage teaching and research resources and capabilities. The potential impact of this project is an increase in small and limited resource farmers who enhance their profitability through supplying produce to commercial buyers, and a greater employment of students from 1890 institutions as food safety certification auditors and consultants.