Financial Assistance for Food Safety Certification and Training

This is the chance for eligible fresh fruit and vegetable growers to recover some of their expenses for implementing food safety practices on their farms.

For 2024:

  • Applications are due between July 1, 2024 and January 31, 2025
  • Eligible expenses must be between June 26, 2024 and December 31, 2024

For 2025:

  • Application is due between January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2026
  • Eligible expenses must be between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025

Eligible specialty crop operations can apply for Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops (FSCSC) by working directly with the Farm Service Agency offices at your local FSA office for details. Applications will be accepted via mail, fax, hand delivery, or electronic means.

How the Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program Works

The FSCSC program provides financial assistance for specialty crop operations that incur eligible on-farm food safety program expenses related to obtaining or renewing a food safety certification in years 2024 and 2025. This program helps offset costs to comply with regulatory requirements and market-driven food safety certification requirements.  FSCSC will cover a percentage of the specialty crop operation’s cost of obtaining or renewing their certification, as well as a percentage of their related expenses.

Program Eligibility

Eligibility requirements for FSCSC applicants are outlined below. We recommend you review these requirements before initiating your FSCSC application.

To be eligible for FSCSC, an applicant must:

Have obtained or renewed:

  • 2024 food safety certification issued between June 26, 2024, and December 31, 2024
  • 2025 food safety certification issued during calendar year 2025.
  • Be a specialty crop operation (growing fresh fruits and vegetables); and meet the definition of a small business or medium size business.
  • A small (farm) business means an applicant that had an average annual monetary value of specialty crops the applicant sold during the 3-year period preceding the program year of not more than $500,000.
  • A medium (farm) business means an applicant that had an average annual monetary value of specialty crops the applicant sold during the 3-year period preceding the program year of at least $500,001 but no more than $1,000,000.
Category of Eligible Expenses Payment Amount of Eligible Costs
Developing a Food Safety Plan for First Time Certification ·                     75% (no maximum)
Maintaining or Updating a Food Safety Plan ·                     75% up to $675
Food Safety Certification ·                     75% up to $2,000
Certification Upload Fees ·                     75% up to $375
Microbiological Testing of Produce ·                     75% up to 5 tests
Microbiological Testing of Soil Amendments ·                     75% up to 5 tests
Microbiological Testing of Water ·                     75% up to 5 tests
Training Expenses ·                     100% up to $500

FSCSC payments are calculated separately for each category of eligible costs based on the percentages and maximum payment amounts.  The FSCSC application and associated forms are available online at  farmers.gov/food-safety.

You are encouraged to contact the Farm Service Agency office about FSCSC, program eligibility, or the application process. You may also call 877-508-8364 to speak directly with a USDA employee ready to provide one-on-one assistance.

For our current trainings please go to: Our Trainings – Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety

 

 

Reminder – South Jersey Vegetable Integrated Crop Management Twilight Meeting

Tuesday, April 30, 2024
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
East Vineland Fire Hall
4931 Landis Ave. across from the Savoy Restaurant
(please park behind the building and enter conference room door in rear)

Pesticide Credits Approved

  • CORE (Basic Safety & Handling)              1
  • PP2 (Private Applicator)                             2
  • 1A (Agriculture Plant)                                 2
  • 10 (Demonstration & Research)                2

USDA’s SARE Program – Resources and Farmer Grants

  • Michelle Infante-Casella, RCE Gloucester

Pesticide Safety and Compliance Tools for Growers and Applicators

  • Pat Hastings, RCE Pesticide Education Program Coordinator

Management Options for Allium Leaf Miner, Diamondback Moth, & Corn Earworm

  • Kris Holmstrom, RCE Vegetable IPM Program Associate

Implications of EPA’s Herbicide Strategic Plan to Comply with the Endangered Species Act &

Weed Management Strategies for Spring and Summer Vegetable Crops

  • Dr. Thierry Besancon, RCE Specialty Crop Weed Specialist

Unlocking the Power of Social Media Marketing Trends

  • Claudia Gil-Arroyo, RCE Cape May

Disease Control Options for Spring Vegetable Crops

  • Dr. Andy Wyenandt, RCE Vegetable Plant Pathologist

Changes to the New FSMA Water Rule Now in Place, and to the Harmonized Audit

  • Dr. Wes Kline, RCE Cumberland

Pesticide Recertification Credits have been requested for this meeting. We hope you’ll be able to join us.

South Jersey Vegetable Integrated Crop Management Twilight Meeting

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

East Vineland Fire Hall

4931 Landis Ave. across from the Savoy Restaurant

(please park behind the building and enter conference room door in rear)

 

USDA’s SARE Program – Resources and Farmer Grants

  • Michelle Infante-Casella, RCE Gloucester

Pesticide Safety and Compliance Tools for Growers and Applicators

  • Pat Hastings, RCE Pesticide Education Program Coordinator

Management Options for Allium Leaf Miner, Diamondback Moth, & Corn Earworm

  • Kris Holmstrom, RCE Vegetable IPM Program Associate

Implications of EPA’s Herbicide Strategic Plan to Comply with the Endangered Species Act &

Weed Management Strategies for Spring and Summer Vegetable Crops

  • Dr. Thierry Besancon, RCE Specialty Crop Weed Specialist

Unlocking the Power of Social Media Marketing Trends

  • Claudia Gil-Arroyo, RCE Cape May

Disease Control Options for Spring Vegetable Crops

  • Dr. Andy Wyenandt, RCE Vegetable Plant Pathologist

Changes to the New FSMA Water Rule Now in Place, and to the Harmonized Audit

  • Dr. Wes Kline, RCE Cumberland

Pesticide Recertification Credits have been requested for this meeting. We hope you’ll be able to join us.

Have A Say in Field Equipment Sanitation Research!

In an initiative to guide future solution and resources, the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) has designed the Sanitation of Agricultural Field Equipment Questionnaire to begin the research process centered around field equipment sanitation.

The research will develop a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges associated with field equipment sanitation and work toward developing solutions that are effective, implementable and sustainable.

To introduce the survey and forthcoming research effort, Dr. Matt Grieshop Director at The Grimm Family Center for Organic Production and Research College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo says,

“We are a group of agricultural research and extension professionals from across the United States that are curious about grower and agricultural professional perceptions about the importance of field equipment sanitation to mitigate the spread of organisms that pose human health, weed, plant pathogen or other risks.

Agricultural field equipment includes tillage implements, tractors, harvesters, cultivation equipment, trucks, trailers, sprayers, mowers, or any other piece of equipment that is shared across fields.

This information will be solely used to help frame future research questions and outreach activities.  It will not be published or distributed in any form. Answering should take 5 minutes or less and is completely voluntary and anonymous.

If you have questions, comments or concerns contact Dr. Matt Grieshop at mgriesho@calpoly.edu

Thank you for sharing your experience. We truly appreciate the gift of your time and knowledge.”

Your participation is invaluable to future developments in the industry regarding food safety and equipment sanitation.

To contribute, visit here.

For any questions regarding this project, contact Thierry Besancon at thierry.besancon@rutgers.edu.

——

Thierry E. Besançon, PhD

Associate Professor / Extension Weed Science Specialist

 

Canadian Government Sets New Rules For Importing Romaine Lettuce From US This Fall

As reported in The Produce Reporter by Blue Book Services on August 1, 2023, the Canadian government has released new temporary licensing rules for importers of US romaine lettuce beginning September 28 and running through December 20, 2023.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CA FIA) summarized these new requirements in their statement outlining the rules:

“To decrease the risk associated with E. coli O157:H7 in romaine lettuce, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is implementing temporary Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) license conditions for the importation of romaine lettuce originating from the U.S. Between September 28 and December 20, 2023, importers of romaine lettuce and/or salad mixes containing romaine lettuce from the U.S. must:

    • declare that the product does not originate from counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey in the Salinas Valley, California, U.S., or
    • submit an attestation form and Certificates of Analysis for each shipment to demonstrate that the romaine lettuce does not contain detectable levels of E. coli O157:H7

Shippers sending romaine lettuce from other production regions to Canada during this time should expect to “provide a Proof of Origin indicating the state and county where the romaine lettuce was harvested”. Lack of proof of origin will require significant sampling and testing to assure lack of contamination before it will be allowed to be imported. Full details of this new rule are available on the CA FIA website at https://inspection.canada.ca/importing-food-plants-or-animals/food-imports/food-specific-requirements/romaine-lettuce-from-the-united-states/eng/1601488215302/1601488215678.

 

 

REMINDER – South Jersey Integrated Vegetable Crop Management Meeting Tonight

Just a quick reminder hoping to see you tonight. In addition to the announced agenda below, newly appointed State Executive Director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency Bob Andrzejczak will be joining us to (re)introduce himself to the farm community.

Integrated Vegetable Crop Management Twilight Meeting

THURSDAY, April 7, 2022

6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

East Vineland Fire Hall

4931 Landis Ave., Vineland, NJ

across from the Savoy Restaurant

(please park behind the building and enter conference room door in rear)

6:30 pm    Tools for Pesticide Safety & Regulatory Compliance for Growers & Pesticide Handlers

  • Pat Hastings, RCE Pesticide Education Program Coordinator

7:00 pm    Understanding the New FSMA Water Rule

  • Wes Kline, RCE Cumberland

7:20 pm    Cover-crops for Fertility Management

  • Michelle Infante-Casella, RCE Gloucester

7:40 pm    Cover-crops and Other Weed Management Strategies for Plasticulture Crops

  • Thierry Besancon, RCE Specialty Crop Weed Specialist

8:10 pm    Disease Control Options for Spring Vegetable Crops

  • Andy Wyenandt, RCE Vegetable Plant Pathologist

8:40 pm    Pepper Weevil & Early Season Diamond Back Moth Management Options

  • Joe Mahar, Vegetable IPM Coordinator

9:10 pm    COVID-19 and New Roles for Extension Going Forward

  • Rick VanVranken, RCE Atlantic

9:30 pm    Adjourn

Pesticide Recertification Credits 

PP2 (PRIVATE APPLICATOR CATEGORY)     04
CORE (BASIC SAFETY & HANDLING)          01
1A (AGRICULTURAL PLANT)                       04
10 (DEMONSTRATION & RESEARCH)         03

Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Richard VanVranken, Agricultural Agent, Atlantic County

Wesley L. Kline, Agricultural Agent, Cumberland County

Michelle Infante-Casella, Agricultural Agent, Gloucester County