Farm Food Safety: Compliance Documentation - Harvest Activities

Part 6 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

-Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

The USDA Good Agricultural Practices audit requires that certain activities on the farm be documented. These logs should accurately reflect what you have done on the farm to ensure food safety. If you do not write your activities down the auditor will assume that the activity never happened. This documentation may be new for many growers, so making it as easy as possible for you to comply will ensure that the documenting happens in a manner that is acceptable to an auditor.

What harvest logs will you need to have as a part of your farm food safety plan?

Agritourism Resources: Hospitality Training

-Jack Rabin
If your operation includes visitors, you are part of New Jersey's agritourism industry.

As the season begins, it's a good time to think about how your staff interacts with visitors. Happy customers are the key to a successful business. The Agritourism Team at Rutgers NJAES has put together information to help you and your staff learn how to exceed the expectations of your visitors. Check out Hospitality Training on the Agritourism in New Jersey website.

Unexpected Insect Pests

-Joe Ingerson-Mahar
Weather-wise, 2012 has already become an exceptional year not only in New Jersey but in much of the country.  Higher than normal temperatures in late winter and early spring and the mild winter weather are now playing out in early appearances of migratory insects, including corn earworm and cabbage looper and perhaps beet armyworm and fall armyworm, as well.

Veg Alert: Late blight on potato in Burlington Co.

Rutgers Cooperative Extension 

New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station 

Plant & Pest Advisory 

Vegetable Alert! 

Date: 5/23/12           Alert Author: Andy Wyenandt 

Pest: Late blight on potato in Burlington County (Central New Jersey)

Farm Food Safety: Compliance Documentation - Field Operations

Part 5 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

- Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

  

The USDA Good Agricultural Practices audit requires that certain activities on the farm be documented. These logs should accurately reflect what you have done on the farm to ensure food safety. If you do not write your activities down the auditor will assume that the activity never happened. This documentation may be new for many growers, sample logs are available on the Rutgers Vegetable Crops Food Safety page under the manual forms tab http://njveg.rutgers.edu/html/mf-food-safety.html

What field operations logs will you need to have as a part of your farm food safety plan?

Spinach downy mildew in New Jersey

-Andy Wyenandt

Spinach downy mildew has been found in New Jersey (which has been uncommon in recent years).
Alert is attached.