On-Farm Readiness Reviews Offered to Fruit and Vegetable Growers

Jun 08, 2021

By Joe Hannan

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will offer voluntary, on-farm assessments to Iowa fruit and vegetable growers in preparation for Food and Drug Administration farm inspections conducted under the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule.

The On-Farm Produce Safety Team will offer voluntary On-Farm Readiness Reviews to farms that grow, harvest, pack and hold vegetables and fruit for human consumption.

The purpose of the OFRR process is to:

Prepare Iowa farmers for implementation of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.
Provide guidance on how to implement practices to prepare individual farms in compliance with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.
Allow growers to ask farm-specific questions about produce safety.

The On-Farm Readiness Reviews are free, voluntary and take less than two hours to complete.

There are two requirements for interested growers:

At least one person from the farm must have been trained and received the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training certificate.
On-Farm Readiness Reviews are done when produce is being grown, harvested or post-harvest handled.

“If you are a covered farm under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, there is a good chance you will receive an inspection this year. An OFRR is designed to prepare you for that inspection,” said Joe Hannan, commercial horticulture field specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. “An OFRR is free, voluntary and kept confidential.”

Source : iastate.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.