Business News
SACRAMENTO – Beginning this week, thousands of California produce farmers will receive a letter from CDFA containing important information about on-farm food safety inspections that will begin this spring for a number of fruit, nut and vegetable farms in the state.
A questionnaire seeking background information about farms is included in the mailing and will be utilized to help coordinate inspections.
The inspections are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA. Since the law was passed, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has been working with states across the U.S. to assist them in performing on-farm inspections. These inspections are set to begin at some produce farms in California.
In April, CDFA’s newly-established Produce Safety Program is scheduled to begin inspections on behalf of the FDA as a means of verifying that produce farms in California are following food safety regulations for produce under FSMA.
“The Produce Safety Program’s core value is to educate, then regulate,” said Natalie Krout-Greenberg, director of CDFA’s Inspection Services Division, which is overseeing the program. “Our role is to ensure California produce farmers know how to comply with the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule, and then to regulate farms to ensure they are compliant.”
Of the produce farms identified in California, only large farms will be subject to inspections at first. Under the Produce Safety Rule, farms with $500,000 or more in average annual sales have been required to be compliant with the Produce Safety Rule since January 2018 and inspections to verify their compliance will begin this spring.
Small farms – those with annual sales of between $250,000 and $500,000 – were required to be compliant beginning in January of this year but won’t be inspected until next year. Very small farms with sales between $25,000 and $250,000 are not required to comply until January of 2020.
Farmers are encouraged to visit the Produce Safety Program’s Web site for information and assistance to better understand the program requirements.
A questionnaire seeking background information about farms is included in the mailing and will be utilized to help coordinate inspections.
The inspections are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA. Since the law was passed, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has been working with states across the U.S. to assist them in performing on-farm inspections. These inspections are set to begin at some produce farms in California.
In April, CDFA’s newly-established Produce Safety Program is scheduled to begin inspections on behalf of the FDA as a means of verifying that produce farms in California are following food safety regulations for produce under FSMA.
“The Produce Safety Program’s core value is to educate, then regulate,” said Natalie Krout-Greenberg, director of CDFA’s Inspection Services Division, which is overseeing the program. “Our role is to ensure California produce farmers know how to comply with the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule, and then to regulate farms to ensure they are compliant.”
Of the produce farms identified in California, only large farms will be subject to inspections at first. Under the Produce Safety Rule, farms with $500,000 or more in average annual sales have been required to be compliant with the Produce Safety Rule since January 2018 and inspections to verify their compliance will begin this spring.
Small farms – those with annual sales of between $250,000 and $500,000 – were required to be compliant beginning in January of this year but won’t be inspected until next year. Very small farms with sales between $25,000 and $250,000 are not required to comply until January of 2020.
Farmers are encouraged to visit the Produce Safety Program’s Web site for information and assistance to better understand the program requirements.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
With the Sierra Nevada snowpack rising to nearly 150 percent of average, the California Farm Bureau Federation said it’s understandable why some agricultural customers of the federal Central Valley Project would be disappointed by the initial CVP water outlook.
The project, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, has told agricultural service contractors south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to expect 35 percent of contract supplies, and those north of the delta to expect 70 percent.
“California has been blessed with an abundant Sierra snowpack and that should be recognized in making an initial water allocation, so farmers can make their planting decisions,” CFBF President Jamie Johansson said. “We hope the CVP will be able to increase its allocations as the spring continues. In above-average years such as this, we need to provide as much certainty about available supplies as early as possible to farmers and all other water users.”
Johansson said the CVP likely needed to be conservative in its projections because of biological opinions for protected fish that require water to be reserved for fishery uses.
“We’re hopeful that revised biological opinions can provide more flexibility in managing the system and encourage creative projects for improving fish populations,” Johansson said.
“From our offices along the banks of the Sacramento River, I can look out and see a river swollen with runoff heading toward the ocean,” he said. “In wet winters such as this, we need to be able to capture more of that runoff, both above and below ground, to shield people and the environment from future droughts and replenish our groundwater basins.”
Johansson said Farm Bureau “will continue to advocate for balanced water policies that benefit our state’s farms, cities and environment alike.”
The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 36,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of nearly 5.6 million Farm Bureau members.
The project, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, has told agricultural service contractors south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to expect 35 percent of contract supplies, and those north of the delta to expect 70 percent.
“California has been blessed with an abundant Sierra snowpack and that should be recognized in making an initial water allocation, so farmers can make their planting decisions,” CFBF President Jamie Johansson said. “We hope the CVP will be able to increase its allocations as the spring continues. In above-average years such as this, we need to provide as much certainty about available supplies as early as possible to farmers and all other water users.”
Johansson said the CVP likely needed to be conservative in its projections because of biological opinions for protected fish that require water to be reserved for fishery uses.
“We’re hopeful that revised biological opinions can provide more flexibility in managing the system and encourage creative projects for improving fish populations,” Johansson said.
“From our offices along the banks of the Sacramento River, I can look out and see a river swollen with runoff heading toward the ocean,” he said. “In wet winters such as this, we need to be able to capture more of that runoff, both above and below ground, to shield people and the environment from future droughts and replenish our groundwater basins.”
Johansson said Farm Bureau “will continue to advocate for balanced water policies that benefit our state’s farms, cities and environment alike.”
The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 36,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of nearly 5.6 million Farm Bureau members.
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
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