Starting in 2016, the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training has been offered as the only Food and Drug Administration–approved course to meet the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule educational requirements for produce growers. This study interviewed farmers four to six years after training to measure changes made. Other studies have measured change one year after training. The most common types of changes this study’s participants made were in the areas of health and hygiene and preventing cross-contamination. These changes did not differ by farm size. The authors expected farmers would have made more difficult changes, given the greater amount of time between taking the training and the study. However, the greatest barriers to making food safety changes—limited time, money, and labor availability—persisted for study participants. This study also found that human capital was the most effective resource that helped farms make food safety changes. Recommendations based on the study include prioritizing states' federally funded Cooperative Agreement Program *Author for correspondence: Phone: +1 319.559.2193; Email: arlene@iastate.edu (CAP) funds to pay for staff, taking advantage of the three ways to offer the PSA Grower Training, and investing in ways to help overcome the main barriers that growers identified: time, money, and labor constraints.
Extension educators have been enlisted to assist farmers in meeting requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule (PSR). Although food safety is a familiar topic for Extension educators, helping farmers learn how to prepare for PSR regulations is new. In this article, we describe a needs assessment conducted in the north central United States according to a modified Delphi approach. Results revealed unique characteristics of farmers in the region, least understood components of the PSR, preferences regarding educational tools, and the need for materials for varied audiences. Our process can be adapted for the purpose of determining how to assist growers in other regions in complying with the PSR.
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