Good morning from Minnesota Farmers Union and our #FSMA full day #foodsafety training. Farmer trainer Laura Frerichs is presenting to attendees on employee training. She asks her employees to handle produce like their grandma or pregnant friend will eat it “Food safety is community care”

On to hear from David Abazs, co-owner of Round River Farm in Finland on the North shore talk about safety of produce in post harvest washing. He said he’s had frosts on his farm on July 15 and Aug 8 😳 The farm is totally off the grid and they have a great food safety program 🥕

A lovely morning for a GAPs training at Keepsake Cidery with a roomful of small farms, with a delicious local food lunch. Lots of excellent questions! Now on to farmer/buyer networking. Over 10 school districts are “speed dating” with small farms looking to sell their veggies!

Kicking off another #foodsafety #GAPs training with a room full of small farmers. Lots of laughs and great questions about all things #poop on their farms. Co-trainer experienced farmer Joan is telling great stories and keeping everyone engaged. Next up, farmer/buyer networking.

August from Dream of Wild Health was the winner for our #handwashing stand. He was SO EXCITED. Thanks Dream of Wild Health for your commitment to growing safe, healthful food for Minnesotans and sending a number of your staff to today’s training Dream of Wild Health 🥕 🥬

Wrapping up two days of #foodsafety training with emerging farmers selling to TheGoodAcre food hub. We also helped them apply for the new mini grant from MDA, and gathered testimonials for the House Ag Committee hearing happening tonight to support the LEAFF prgm and more!🥕

Tonight we had a fun #foodsafety training with Hmong American Farmers Association. What a great group of engaged farmers who asked lots of questions and we had a number of good laughs. #GAPs #localfoods

At the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum today for the Schoolyard Garden conference. Great day connecting with lots of school garden coordinators and talking about our new #foodsafety manual for school gardens. Also all the FLOWERS 💐🌸

Full day remote #FSMA food safety training today with 20 farmers from MN and also a number of other states. It’s great to hear stories and questions from the entire country. Also, snow days are easier on Zoom!

Mankato today for a #GAPs training, farmer/buyer meet n greet, and farm to school training. 13 school districts showed up to meet farms and find local produce! The demand for local across the state is ⬆️ . Excellent partnerships for the win 🏆 🥕 RenewingCountryside Minnesota Farmers Union

Today we are hosting a training with the North Dakota Department of Agriculture ahead of the Pride of Dakota local food training in Fargo. A nice group of growers from two states talking about food safety in fresh veggies 🥕

A sunny day at 10th Street Farm in Afton for a food safety training with Kenyan farmers from Kilimo and Sharing Our Roots farm incubator🥕 A lively bunch, with great questions and thoughts. We talked a lot about indigenous greens and wished we had them for lunch Sharing Our Roots

With MPS True Food and many of the local farms that will be supplying food for their 42,000 (!) meals served daily. I’m so proud to be a part of MPS’ farm to school procurement process to help farmers with food safety. And school lunch is now amazing! #farmtoschool

Today I’m in DC participating in the LFSC National Farmers Union national steering committee. Farmers Union gathered food safety professionals from across the country to discuss how to make sure #FSMA and #GAPs educational materials work for small, diverse and underserved farms 🥕

Today we are at Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College 🏈 with the Fond du Lac agricultural training program in Cloquet talking about #foodsafety practices for tribal and other producers. It was a great day of questions and discussion, with delicious food and many laughs. Kids came along to help too!

Does this bother you in ROTJ?

Food safety training #3 of the week at the Good Acre. We talked about selling to a wholesale buyer like TGA and what that means for packaging, grading and more. Great questions from a full room of engaged farmers. Here’s to a successful upcoming season! TheGoodAcre #foodsafety

A fun food safety training with farms from a number of organizations including Open Arms of Minnesota, Hennepin County Master Gardeners (HCMGs), Hmong American Farmers Association, and MN African Immigrant Farmers Assn. Great conversation throughout the day, lots of laughs and faux fighting over the gifted handwash stand #gaps #foodsafety

Food safety and Wholesale Readniness training (and school lunch) for a great group of #farmtoschool growers with contracts with Mpls Pub Schools. MPS serves 40k meals daily! We talked grading, quality and #foodsafety so growers can meet the wholesale specs MPS True Food U of MN Extension

Today we bought materials for new low-cost #foodsafe wash stations that we are building with emerging fruit and veg farmers this summer. This will allow them to efficiently and safely wash their veggies. Looking forward to a field day in July! U of MN Extension TheGoodAcre NIFA