Farm food safety begins with Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs): the basic environmental and operational conditions that are necessary for the production of safe fruits and vegetables.

Farmers need to take steps to minimize pathogen contamination during production and harvest of their fresh produce. They should avoid side-dressing with manure, exclude animals near fields, promote proper worker hygiene in the field, test irrigation water quality, select irrigation methods that minimize crop wetting or allows for leaves to dry quickly, clean and sanitize harvest bins, promote cleanliness at U-Pick, and keep produce cool.

As consumers demand safer food, a growing number of retailers are requiring farmers to have independent, 3rd-party inspections of farms, certifying that their fruits and vegetables are being grown, harvested and packaged using Good Agricultural Practices.



More Food Safety Content

Pumpkin Variety Trial Meeting (Northern Location)

October 24, 2018
1:00pm- 3:00pm
Melrose, NY

Join Chuck Bornt and Teresa Rusinek from CCE ENYCHP for our 2018 pumpkin variety trial results. We trialed 48 different pumpkin varieties of various shapes and sizes, from different companies. Come on out and see how they look!

Pumpkin Variety Trial Meeting (Southern Location)

October 25, 2018
1:00pm- 3:00pm
Kingston, NY

Join Chuck Bornt and Teresa Rusinek from CCE ENYCHP for our 2018 pumpkin variety trial results. We trialed 48 different pumpkin varieties of various shapes and sizes, from different companies. Come on out and see how they look!

Grow a Successful Agritourism Business! Managing Your Human Resource Risk From Agritourism

October 26, 2018
10:00am - 2:30pm
Highland, NY

Bringing visitors to your farm can create new income streams but agritourism can also be a source of risk to your farm business. Five lunchtime seminars will teach how to assess and manage different risks to help develop a successful agritourism business. The seminars will be followed by a panel of successful agritourism operators. In-between each seminar, participants will build on their knowledge to develop their own risk management plan. This 5-county program will be offered simultaneously in Delaware (the host county), and by Zoom technology in Otsego/Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties. The Ulster County site, hosted by Liz Higgins of the Eastern NY Commercial Hort Team, will be at the Hudson Valley Lab

Check out the Updated Labeled Insecticides for SWD

Labeled Insecticides for Control of Spotted Wing Drosophila in New York Berry Crops - Quick Guide Compiled by Greg Loeb, Laura McDermott, Peter Jentsch & Juliet Carroll, Cornell University. Updated regularly. Check it out at this link!

New Resources from CCE ENYCHP!

We are developing new ways to connect with the CCE ENYCHP team this year! We have a Youtube page located at this link. Check out videos on Table Grape Production, Pest Updates and the 20 Minute Ag Manager - in 4 Minutes series. 
The text alerts will be reserved for important crop alerts that could impact management decisions immediately. For instance, if there were an outbreak of Late Blight in the area, this would be transmitted to vegetable growers.

Farmers can choose the crop for which they wish to receive updates. Additionally they can request that Ag Business Alerts be sent to them. These alerts might include due dates for crop insurance deadlines, market opportunities etc.

Text alerts are easy to access. Just click on the link below and fill out a very short registration form. It takes just seconds to do - access to important information has never been so easy!!

Confused by the WPS (Worker Protection Standard)?

Please take note: WPS pertains to all farms-organic and conventional!  To be sure that you are complying with these regulations, please view the EPA link below:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/comparison-chart-wps.pdf