Publication Provides Common Sense Guidance for Farmers to Establish Food Safety Plans

“FSP4U - A Food Safety Plan for You” by Michele Schermann, RN MS, UMN Agricultural Safety and Health Program Research Fellow, provides common sense guidance for farmers to establish food safety plans. It is packed full of useful record keeping templates, and will help fruit and vegetable producers set up food safety systems to pass Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) audits.

Available for $5.00 to cover postage (email Safety for details) or download pdf.

This project was funded by the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association with a grant from USDA-RMA.

MAP awarded STAR Program Award for Excellence

The Minnesota AgrAbility Project was recognized for its commitment to removing barriers to independence for farmers with disabilities by the Minnesota STAR Program on April 14 in the State Capitol Rotunda. AgrAbility project coordinators Michele Schermann and Al Rasmussen were on hand for the ceremony and to receive the Award for Excellence from the State Commissioner of Administration.

Deen Swart (center), our AgrAbility partner from Goodwill/ EasterSeals of MN was nominated for and awarded the STAR Award for Excellence in Assistive Technology. STAR awards are given to those individuals who exemplify excellence in use, promotion, advocacy, support, research and development, and other aspects of assistive technology in Minnesota.

MAP staff L to R: Al Rasmussen, UofMN, Deen Swart, GoodwillEasterSeals of MN, and Michele Schermann, UofMN.

MAP Peer Conference

Minnesota AgrAbility Project sponsored a peer conference in Hutchinson, MN on March 12 & 13. Mike Rosmann (on the left in photo) of AgriWellness, the keynote speaker, spoke to the 20 participants about Agriculture Behavioral Health and how it affects the lives of the farming community. New skills and tips on understanding and managing our own behavioral health were part of the presentations during the 1-1/2 day workshop.

Emergency Response Planning Workbook for Fruit and Vegetable Growers

In recent years, there has been growing interest in locally produced fresh fruits, vegetables, and other food products. Farmers’ markets have become a common feature of local efforts to encourage community economic development by promoting locally-grown products. Consumers have increased their intake of fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to efforts to promote good nutrition. Given the choice, many consumers prefer locally-grown products, and are often very willing to support efforts to bring fresh and wholesome products into their communities via the hard work of local growers.

But, for several reasons, people producing fruits and vegetables face a variety of risks and hazards. This includes natural disasters (floods, tornadoes, etc.); unintentional events such as injuries, fires, etc.; and the potential for intentional events such as theft, vandalism, product tampering, etc. Many of these events can lead to conditions which are potentially damaging to the grower such as a power outage or other “failure” that can affect people, products, property, and customers.

This workbook and the presentations it supports are designed to help fruit and vegetable growers to prepare for and respond to many of these events. (Click on the picture to get to the workbook)

Regional Agricultural Awareness Workshops

University of Minnesota Extension, in conjunction with the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Emergency Management, held a series of workshops in March 2008 to help the agricultural and emergency response communities as they work to integrate agriculture into county-level emergency response planning. See more about this on our Agriculture and Food System Preparedness webpage.

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