Author: Paul Vijayakumar
Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences
Major Program: Local Food Systems
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
I collaborated with the Organic Association of Kentucky, the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Food connection, and the Department of Horticulture at UK and conducted a Food safety and Quality field day. The objective of the field day was to walk and talk through the primary elements of food safety at the University of Kentucky’s Organic Farming Unit, including Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Handling Practices (GHP), and PBPT (Produce Best Practices Training), and how they relate to the entire farming system, including a focus on pack shed design for food quality and safety. We had 23 total participants; we received 16 program evaluation forms. Participants were from Bracken; Clark; Fayette (3); Graves; Lee; Madison (7); Magoffin; Mason; Mercer Counties. Participants identified themselves as Market Farmers (7 + 1 aspiring), Backyard Gardeners (5), Students (5), Educators/ Researchers (3), and Local Food Advocate (1). Five participants said they had been farming ”0-1 year," and five answered "2-5 years;" 3 replied with "so long it's hard to remember;" 2 each replied "6-10 years" or "not a farmer". The majority (12) of these participants said they attended the Field Day because they "want information about whether these techniques would be practical" on their farm, while 10 attended due to a "general interest in organic agriculture," and 6 of them stated they "wanted to meet other farmers who use these techniques." Four participants replied they "use these techniques on their own farm and want to learn new/updated methods." Two specifically cited GAP Certification as the reason they attended. Of the 16 evaluations, 14 participants said they would implement something they learned on their own farm. Comments included; great!, wonderful resource, full of useful info, very informational, exceeded expectations, learned a lot (2), new info!, mostly review - good reminders, great info for small growing farm, the info increased my awareness and decreased my fears of food safety inspections, great to see/tour the packing shed while talking about the practices.
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