There have been several calls today regarding a form letter required for farm laborers to travel to NJ farms during the current COVID-19 shut down. A draft Letter for Employee Travel Related to Critical Infrastructureis available from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (this is in pdf format that must be retyped onto your company letterhead). The version, EmployeeTravelRelatedtoCriticalInfrastructure, is in a format that you can copy and paste onto your own letterhead and insert the appropriate company and representative information.
Commercial Ag Updates + Farm Food Safety
Rutgers Cooperative Extension Ag Agents provide updates on what they see in the field, upcoming events, and other important news that affects your operation, such as developments in on-farm Food Safety. Subscribe if you wish to be notified about workshops, meetings, and upcoming commercial ag events.
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USDA Audits Expiration Dates Extended
Please see the press release below with regards to USDA Audit Program Certifications. Also, the Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety Website is being updated with the latest Covid-19 information as it relates to agriculture. We encourage you to check it frequently. Please reach out if you need us, we are not in the office but we are still working.
USDA Temporarily Extends Expiration Dates for Some Good Agricultural Practices, Domestic Origin Verification, Plant Systems Audit Program Certifications
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is committed to delivering the timely services needed to support the movement of America’s food supply and will continue to take steps to meet challenges due to the COVID-19 national emergency.
To aid the movement of fresh specialty crops into marketing channels, AMS is extending the expiration date of USDA audit certifications scheduled to expire on or before May 31, 2020, by 60 days. USDA audit certifications are normally valid for 12 months. The certification extension applies to 400 current auditees certified under the USDA Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Domestic Origin Verification and Plant Systems Audit programs.
AMS is advising affected auditees of their 60-day extension and is updating information under “Find a USDA Gap-Certified Company” on the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) & Good Handling Practices (GHP) webpage to reflect the extended audit expiration dates.
Extending the expiration date for auditees with current certifications will allow AMS to concentrate resources on providing food safety verification audits for entities new to USDA audit programs who require certification to move product into commerce.
The extension is in alignment with the International Accreditation Forum’s Informative Document for Management of Extraordinary Events or Circumstances Affecting Accreditation Bodies and Certifying Organizations, Issue 1, which establishes guidelines for extending food safety audit certifications. The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) also has communicated that, based on risk, certification bodies may be able to extend certifications under extraordinary circumstances for up to six months.
AMS recognizes that USDA specialty crops inspections and audits are critical to the nation’s food supply chain, and we are committed to ensuring the continuity of our audit operations.
Selling Rutgers Plant Varieties? How to Get Your Business on the “Where to Buy” List
The COVID-19 shutdown has lead to a surge of interest in planting home vegetable gardens this spring according to this NY Times article. The Rutgers NJAES Rediscover the Jersey Tomato program provides a list of markets where people can buy Rutgers 250 tomato seedlings and other popular Rutgers varieties of tomatoes, strawberries, basil, habanero peppers, dogwoods, and more for planting, as well as produce grown from these varieties. NJ residents will soon be looking for outlets to buy Rutgers varietal seedlings and produce. (See link below if you would like to grow any of these varieties for plant sales.)
To be included on the 2020 list of where people can buy Ramapo, Rutgers 250, or the new Scarlet Sunrise transplants and/or tomatoes, and other Rutgers breeds, you can e-mail information about your business to: njfarmfresh@njaes.rutgers.edu by April 24, 2020. Please put “Commercial Plant Sales” in the e-mail subject line and provide the following information:
- business name
- contact name
- address
- phone number
- web address
- county
- indicate whether Rutgers 250, Ramapo and/or Scarlet Sunrise tomato transplants and/or tomatoes will be for sale and/or other Rutgers breeds and approximate availability dates (we also list Moreton and KC-146 tomato availability, so please indicate if you carry these varieties also).
For more information on the availability of Rutgers NJAES tomato seeds and POP materials for commercial production and sales, go to:
https://breeding.rutgers.edu/commercial-grower
For information on all Rutgers NJAES plant varieties, go to:
Communicating Science-based Information to Your Farm Market Customers
Good communication with your farm market customers is essential now more than ever to maintain their trust and support. Recommendations include telling, displaying and practicing science-based information about what you are doing to protect the shopping public visiting your farm or market. There is too much confusing misinformation available about how to protect yourselves and consumers so experts, such as Rutgers NJAES Food Safety Specialist Dr. Don Schaffner in this story, are working hard to provide credible resources to help you.
Just as we teach our Rutgers Master Gardener volunteers for answering home gardening questions, if you are searching the internet for information to answer customer questions, whether about the good hygiene and food safety practices you utilize in your facility to combat COVID-19, or for questions regarding your growing practices, look first for information on websites that end with a .edu (universities, colleges and extension), or .gov (federal/state/local government offices). In some cases, there are .org (organizations) websites that can provide useful information, but look for those whose content is backed by a scientific review board and/or has scientists providing the content.
Here is a short list of resources that will help you communicate science-based information to reassure your customers that you’re doing everything you can to provide safe and healthy food for them.
Signs and fact sheets on COVID-19 and Food
- COVID-19 Information for Growers, Food Workers & the Agriculture Industry
- Partnership for Food Safety Education/Fight Bac!
On the importance of eating fresh produce for healthy diets
- Health.gov
- Alliance for Food and Farming’s Safe Fruits and Veggies