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You’d think there’d be no one better prepared to provide safe produce than Forrest Barker, who was raised on a farm, attended university for agricultural science, and is now the fifth generation of her family to run Barker’s Farm in Stratham. Yet, even she found ways to improve her practices through the Jumpstart to Produce Safety program offered by UNH Extension starting in 2022.

In fact, Barker was so appreciative that she agreed to film a series of short videos the produce safety practices she learned through the program. Those videos, which also feature other program participants, have resulted in something that Mary Choate, program organizer for Extension, didn’t even foresee from the outset: a trove of vignettes from growers explaining how best practices are implemented at their farm.

Some of those implementations are surprising — did you know that a clothes dryer can be converted into a vegetable spinner? — but more often, the videos show how several small changes can add up to a significant lowering of food safety risks.

A Culture of Safety

The is the culmination of the four-year Jumpstart to Produce Safety program. Funded by the USDA and administered by UNH Extension and UMaine Extension, the program was intended to assist growers in moving toward compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act and ensuing produce safety rules. 

Most New Hampshire farms are small enough that they aren’t required to follow FSMA rules, however, 28 growers from the Granite State signed up — and more from Maine — which indicates to Mary Choate, food safety specialist for UNH Extension, that their commitment to safety runs deeper than mere compliance.

Over the program, participants gained an on-site food safety assessment, one-on-one guidance for writing a food safety plan, access to useful templates, and ongoing support with implementing the plan.

Farmers found low- or no-cost ways to implement many of the upgrades, Choate says, and found benefits that went beyond safety. For example, moving the handwashing station to a convenient location both improves frequency of handwashing and reduces the time it takes to reach the sink. Worn-out harvest baskets are harder to keep clean and are also a pain to use. Installing triple-bay sinks allows for both better sanitation and a streamlined workflow. Lastly, produce that is properly cleaned has a longer shelf life and is more appealing to customers.

As Jumpstart was drawing to a close, Choate said that she and other organizers wanted to document the program’s success as a way to share it further.

“We had all these great changes by farmers. We thought, why don’t we take these farmers who will agree to be on video and micro-learning videos,” says Choate. “Farmers talking to farmers, peer learning.”

Peace of Mind

More than 70 videos resulted — most between one and three minutes — each featuring a grower explaining, in their own words and on their own farm, how produce safety is integrated into their practices.

On Barker’s Farm, Forrest Barker says there were a few small but significant changes, such as using pallets in the washroom to place produce containers on, instead of placing them directly on the concrete floor. She is also excited about the food-safe sanitizing spray and scrub brush she discovered through the program. But above all, Barker said the biggest improvement was the creation of a standard operating procedure document — a binder full of practices, many of which had existed in only her or her mother’s head.

“It makes it easier to follow them better, but it’s also knowing that everyone knows,” Barker says. “It’s making sure that it’s common knowledge, and it’s not on me to make sure I’m teaching everyone everything they should be doing. I definitely feel more confident in the cleanliness of everything.”