Iowa Valley RC&D

Iowa Valley Rc&d Proposes to Improve Food Safety in Iowa by Providing Specialized On-farm Food Safety Consultation to Small, Beginning Produce Farmers, Improving Access to and Collection of Small Farm Food Safety Data, and Expanding the Network of Certified Food Safety Professionals. Project Staff Will Work Collaboratively With the North Central Region Center for Fsma Training, Expertise, and Technical Assistance. Project Staff Will Develop the Clean Start Food Safety Program to Help Small, Beginning Farmers Comply With Fsma Guidelines and Connect Them With Regional and State Networks of Producers and Food Safety Professionals. Educational Materials Containing Locally Relevant Information Will Be Produced by Ivrc&d and Will Be Used in the Clean Start Program and Distributed to Partner Organizations. Beginning Small Farmers Will Also Be Trained in Digital Recordkeeping Practices That Will Enable the Aggregation of Small Farm Data for Analysis and Trend-tracking by the Iowa Food Safety Professionals Network. Concurrently With the Production of These Educational Materials and the Clean Start Program, Ivrc&d Will Subcontract Value Chain Coordinators Who Will Attend Produce Safety Alliance Trainer Training and Usda Gap Auditor Training in Order to Increase the Number of Qualified Food Safety Professionals and Continue the Expansion of Food Safety Outreach in Iowa.