THE ONEIDA FOOD SAFETY TRAINING DEMONSTRATION INITIATIVE

To develop and implement food safety training, education, extension, outreach and technical assistance projects that address the needs of owners of small, mid-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged farmers, small processors, veteran farmers or ranchers, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers.On farm or on-site training and/or technical assistance that addresses knowledge and resource gaps for the target audiences in the areas of pre- and post-harvest water testing and sampling, soil amendments, developing supply chain programs, and/or developing food safety plans.This project would be a first of its kind - using technology to reach, train, interact in a comprehensive way for a community of individuals rather than a subset of the community.Using technology, through a web app that can be accessed by desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone to create access points from anywhere in the world broadens capacity in an unprecedented way.We will use outreach programs to meet those specific needs. Foraging and food gathering and processing in this specific community retains cultural knowledge. Food safety should not be age or vocationally specific. In this community food safety and training should be available for all ages, all abilities, and presented for a more diverse set of food gathering, growing, harvesting, and processing tasks.We will serve producers and procesors of all age and family groups. While education in this regard is traditionally distributed orally, there are checks and balances that can be built into a culturally relevant, yet standardized approach to ensure efficacy of training. Augmented reality, for example, can help with technique and safety training.We will develop and use an augmented reality Web Application "A Comprehensive Approach to Indigenous Foodways goes far beyond traditional vocational food safety training to address a community food safety and training in a comprehensive to address needs in community farming, gardening, foraging, harvesting, preservation, etc. The training would be inclusive for all ages and all abilities.The program will emphasizethe use of culturally appropriate educational materials and a combination of classroom, hands on training, peer to peer learning and internet based educational opportunities, to assist the members of our tribe and other socially disadvantaged individuals as they pursue individual, community and cooperative development.