Costs of Food Safety Certification on Fresh Produce Farms in Vermont

Abstract

<jats:p>This article addresses the economic costs of good agricultural practices (GAPs) audits of small and medium size farms in Vermont. It focuses on the costs of infrastructure, equipment, and labor required to successfully pass a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) GAPs audit. In-depth interviews and surveys of produce farmers in 2011 revealed that the cost of GAPs certification ranges between $37 and $54 per acre, and an additional 7 hours were required each week during the growing season. Based on this exploratory research, certifying all the farms in Vermont would cost between $228,216 and $3,019,114. Our study explored all the criteria of the certification and measured the costs of GAPs from planning stages to daily record keeping more than one year after the certification was achieved. This study provides information to farmers who are considering GAPs certification. It also provides background information to agricultural service providers and policymakers planning for the future of the fresh produce industry.</jats:p>

Prevalence and cost of on-farm produce safety measures in the Mid-Atlantic

“…However, compliance costs as a share of revenues or total production costs were lower for medium-size operations than smaller ones and lower for large operations than medium-size ones. Becot et al (2012) use data from a 2011 online survey of 17 GAP-certified Vermont vegetable and apple growers to estimate the costs of compliance with GAP requirements. They find that smaller operations (defined as those with annual sales less than $0.5 million) spent more time on recordkeeping than larger ones, although that difference was not statistically significant.…”

Effect of market channel, farm scale, and years in production on mid-Atlantic vegetable producers' knowledge and implementation of Good Agricultural Practices

“…A study looking at fresh market strawberry production and the adoption of five food safety practices (including routine irrigation water testing) across different farm scales estimated that the additional cost per hectare for smaller growers would be four times more than that for larger ones ($720 per hectare versus $165 per hectare; Woods & Thornsbury, 2005). More recently, Becot et al (2012) used data obtained from online surveys and in-depth interviews to analyze the costs of GAP certification (i.e. infrastructure, equipment and labor) for diversified, small-and medium-scaled farms in Vermont.…”

“…infrastructure, equipment and labor) for diversified, small-and medium-scaled farms in Vermont. They estimated the average cost for GAP certification per farm ranged between $2599 and $3983, but found no significant difference in spending based on primary market strategy (<50% of produce sold through wholesale channels versus >50%; Becot et al, 2012). Produce food safety costs also occupy a greater percentage of gross farm cash income for growers with lower sales.…”

“…In a recent survey of diversified fruit and vegetable growers in Oregon, more than half indicated GAP certification resulted in competitive market benefits, but only 25% (4 of 16) of surveyed growers had active GAP certification (Prenguber & Gilroy, 2013). A study in Vermont also found 22% of surveyed produce farms had active GAP certification, but that GAP compliant farms were generally larger in terms of acreage than non-certified farms (Becot, Nickerson, Conner, & Kolodinsky, 2012). In a Minnesota survey, more than 65% of vegetable growers e the majority (230 of 237) of whom were small-scale e reported compliance with GAPs (Hultberg, Schermann, & Tong, 2012).…”

“…Since GAP certification is not codified regulation, growers reported buyer expectations and maintaining sales and customer accounts as the primary incentives for GAP certification (Becot et al, 2012;Bihn & Gravani, 2006;Prenguber & Gilroy, 2013). Wholesale buyers, such as supermarket chains, have used their purchasing power to exert pressure on growers to adopt more stringent food safety standards (Fulponi, 2006) even designating which third-party certifier should be used in some cases (Hatanaka, Bain, & Busch, 2005).…”