Food safety educational materials, tools and learning opportunities developed to educate farmers about the food safety modernization act (FSMA) regulations may not always be readily accessible to…

Food safety educational materials, tools and learning opportunities developed to educate farmers about the food safety modernization act (FSMA) regulations may not always be readily accessible to all farmers. Some of the formal trainings that have been used to provide information to farmers about these food safety regulations are designed to be delivered as workshops or shortcourses that required farmers to attend at specific times and locations during the year. A frequent feedback farmers provide at these workshops is that due to their growing seasons and work schedules, they would prefer to acquire food safety information and knowledge in such a way that they can learn about new and relevant topics in their leisure time and at their own pace. We propose to apply the lessons learn from this and other FSMA-related educational and training materials by designing specific content that will be much more accessible to new and beginning farmers, experienced farmers who live far away from workshop sites, and spanish-speaking growers. All of these groups often have difficulties or challenges to travel away from their farms. Thus, we believe that our project can provide a format to expand food safety information and knowledge to a broader community of farmers. FOG is confident that by creating podcasts and webinars that present those food safety topics farmers are most interested in, we can deliver said information in a pointed and effective manner to farmers at all times, regardless of the season, weather or schedules podcast engagement has grown exponentially in recent years. Education experts believe using podcasts to deliver new information has several advantages. One of advantage is that unlike formal workshops and classes, podcasts are available online at any time. They also allow educators to reach more people than they could under normal classroom settings. FOG believes that podcasts and webinars will prove to be an efficient and cost-effective way of delivery information regarding food safety topics to agricultural producers who have time constraints and are geographically dispersed. Our road to safe and healthy food podcast project will innovate how we deliver useful information to farmers is key to positively influencing their decisions to listen and be receptive to critical information that is shared with them. That is why our approach in this project will be to provide producers who subscribe with tools that stimulate and enhance critical thinking through real-life scenario exercises designed to force them to reflect on their food safety assumptions and concerns. Consequently, producers can use the information, real-life scenarios and recommendations we provide through the podcasts and webinars to implement adequate solutions to their food safety challenges and problems