New UF program helps smaller farms maintain high food-safety standards

August 18, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With food safety a major health concern, larger farms routinely use customized safety plans to ensure everything’s done by the book — now, University of Florida experts are helping smaller farms follow suit.

Workshops offered by UF’s Small Farms Academy at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Live Oak educate producers on essential practices and record-keeping, which can help protect consumers and increase sales, said Bob Hochmuth, a multicounty extension agent based at the center.

Two workshops are scheduled for next week, one focused on field-grown vegetables, another on greenhouse production. Space is still available but early registration is strongly encouraged; visit http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu.

“We want to make sure farmers have the opportunity to maintain high food-safety standards, regardless of size,” Hochmuth said. “Those who are early adopters will be able to use this as a marketing tool.”

Food wholesalers often require suppliers to pass third-party audits before doing business, he said. Large farms can afford to establish their own food-safety divisions, or hire contractors to handle the task.

For smaller farms trying to sell wholesale, those options may not be financially possible, Hochmuth said. But the UF workshops provide hands-on training that lets farmers themselves set up, implement and document a food-safety plan that could help them pass an audit.

“The workshop itself won’t prepare your farm for a third-party audit,” Hochmuth said. “But you’ll walk out with an understanding of what you need to do to get ready.”

For producers who sell directly to consumers, third-party audits generally aren’t a requirement, he said. But the workshop will teach them how to conduct self-audits.

“Even at a farmers’ market, it’s great to be able to tell your customer, ‘I’m holding myself to a high standard to protect you,’” Hochmuth said.

The workshops focus on a software program produced by the company PrimusLabs, he said. Using their own computers or laptops provided by UF, participants enter data about their operations and produce a custom-made food safety plan ready to be implemented. For those who aren’t computer-savvy, assistance is available.

Some of the topics covered include fertilizer and water use, pest control, worker safety and hygiene, and harvesting.

The workshops grew out of a series of food-safety presentations offered statewide by Keith Schneider, an associate professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

At a stop in Live Oak in January 2009, growers were impressed with Schneider’s message but wanted help putting it into action, said Linda Landrum, a multicounty extension agent at the center.

Organizers hope to obtain financial support to offer similar workshops statewide in the near future, Landrum said. Also in the works: two publications to help farmers navigate the PrimusLabs system on their own.

Trenton-based farmer Jodi Douberly of Douberly Melon Sales completed a workshop earlier this year, and called it an “eye-opener.”

“I don’t think everyone quite understood the intensity of what you have to go through to prepare for an audit,” said Douberly, who had gone through one audit prior to the workshop and has done another since. “The workshop was a very good starting point.”