(Photo, left) Bruce Gresczyk, owner of Gresczyk Farms in New Hartford, enjoys sharing his expe- rience and knowledge with other Connecticut farmers. instructor for the Produce Safety Alliance Course, working with Diane. I like learning and talking about stuff. I figured the best way to handle food safety on our farm is to learn how to teach it. I’ve always been very open with other farmers, and happy to talk to anybody about grow- ing. It gets back to my theory of if we’re all good at farming, it helps agriculture in general. That was my motivation to become a trainer. I recommend anyone take the class, even if you’re just doing a little bit of farming. It doesn’t matter if you’re growing an acre or 200-acres. The FSMA class can really help farmers improve their decision making. It’s helped me address the food safety practices on our farm. A lot of what farm- ers are already doing is right, I found it was tweaking more so than anything else. It definitely raised my awareness. We were GAP certified in summer of 2017, and changed a lot of things, but in a good way. Even farms that have a lot of exemp- tions and exclusions in FSMA should take the training we offer through Extension. I always say that if everyone can take a food safety class it will go further than all of these rules, and this even applies to consumers. If you touch food, you should have some basic knowledge of food safety, and really most of us don’t. And that’s okay too, but the biggest thing you can do is just go through a class. It’s really handy to learn some of these basic practices. Then you’re aware as you’re doing things, it literally can save somebody’s life. It’s a way to think about it, and just to be aware. Our farm, we’re always growing, we’re trying to get bigger and better every year. We love doing that, and we love grow- ing. Most of all I want to circle back to thanking Extension. Without Extension’s resources’ we wouldn’t have access to science-based, unbiased information. It really helps us incredibly. Produce Safety Training Some medium to larger Connecticut farms need to comply with the Produce Safety Rule (PSR). This includes taking an approved food safety course, implement- ing certain practices that can minimize risk, and keeping records related to those practices. The Connecticut Department of Agriculture conducts a variety of activi- ties related to implementation of the rule, including developing an inspection pro- gram that meets the requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). UConn Extension conducts approved Produce Safety Alliance grower food safety courses and provides informa- tion and resources to help farms comply. Training details can be found online at foodsafety.uconn.edu. Both the Department of Agriculture and Extension are encouraging all farmers to take the course, whether they need to comply with the PSR or if they are exempt or not covered by the rule. Awareness of how produce can contribute to foodborne illness and how to implement safe food handling practices on the farm benefits the industry and its customers. “I recommend anyone take the class, even if you’re just doing a little bit of farming. It doesn’t matter if you’re growing an acre or 200-acres.” – Bruce Gresczyk, Gresczyk Farms LLC, New Hartford, CTT” TOOLS & TRAINING 2017 HIGHLIGHTS OF EXTENSION 11