Certificate courses

• Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training: (CornellCALS) The Produce Safety Alliance Grower training meets the training required under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.  At least one person working on the farm, a manager or individual handling food safety, should attend this course and receive a certificate.  The curriculum is available in multiple languages, however a majority of the in-person courses are delivered in English.
• Good Agricultural Practices Training: (CornellCALS) The Good Agricultural Practices training course is an in depth course on GAPs covering definitions and applications of food safety practices.  It provides much more background on concepts compared to the PSA Grower training.  It is highly recommended for individuals new to on-farm food safety to attend this course.  In person courses are available, but Cornell Extension has an online program offered throughout the year.

Financial Assistance

• Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program (USDA Farmers.gov) Do you grow specialty crops on your farm or ranch? Have you sold less than $500,000 worth of specialty crops, each year, for the past three years? If so, Farm Service Agency (FSA) has a program to reimburse you for a portion of the expenses associated with obtaining or renewing your on-farm food safety plan! U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing up to $200 million in assistance for specialty crop producers who incur eligible on-farm food safety program expenses to obtain or renew a food safety certification in calendar years 2022 or 2023 (extended through 2025).  Listen to this webinar to learn about Food Safety Certification guidelines for specialty crop growers, as well as program and eligibility details for the FSA Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops (FSCSC) Program to help offset some of the costs associated with food safety certification expenses. 
  • USDA Expands Funding Opportunities for Specialty Crop Growers to Help Offset On-Farm Food Safety Expenses for 2024 and 2025
  • Expanding Market Access: Financial Assistance through USDA's Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops (FSCSC) Program (USDA) (PDF 2.4 MB)
  • Expanding Market Access FSCSC Program Recorded Webinar, Nov. 3rd, 2022 (YouTube, 58:37 min)
  • For the 2024 expenses eligible for reimbursement (July 1, 2024 – January 31, 2025), applications are being accepted through January 31, 2025.  (Deadline for July 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026 is January 31, 2026.)
  • USDA Announces Signup for 2023 Assistance for On-Farm Food Safety Expenses for Specialty Crop Growers 

Non-certificate courses

General Food Safety Resources

• UC ANR California Urban Agriculture Food Safety Guide: Laws and standard operating procedures for farming safely in the city (UCANR, PDF 3.7 MB)
• Community Alliance with Family Farmers, A Farmer’s Guide to Food Safety and Conservation (CAFF, PDF 853 KB)

Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

• Conducting Root Cause Analysis: A “How-To” Guide for the Produce Industry (Western Growers) This document is intended as a walk through for conducting root cause analysis. It provides instruction to determine the underlying reason or reasons that caused the unexpected event or incident, identify the actions needed to eliminate the problem, determine if there were multiple co-dependent factors or inter-related issues, and enact steps to prevent it from happening again. See PDF below. 
  • RCA Guidance for the Produce Industry - How to do RCA (Western Growers, PDF 468 KB)

Template food safety plans

• Though not a requirement under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, it is recommended that an on farm food safety plan be developed to organize all the documentation required under the regulation.  Several template on farm food safety plans and guides for writing a plan are available to assist in developing a plan for your farm. 
• Community Alliance with Family Farmer (CAFF) food safety plan resources  This page includes information on food safety plans, food safety plan templates, factsheets, sample standard operating procedures, template records, recall and traceability information, and training records. (CAFF)
• Farm food safety template (CornellCALS)
• Tools for writing a food safety plan (There is a word doc here that will open as a download.) (Penn State University)