Produce Safety Alliance

Grower Training

Cornell Course

This Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training curriculum has been specifically designed to provide a foundation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) knowledge that includes emphasis on co-management of food safety and environmental management goals, while outlining the requirements in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. Though the development of this curriculum was focused on small farms, the need to understand and reduce microbial risks during the production of fruits and vegetables should be important to every grower. The farming environment naturally has many microbial risks, so to protect the fruits and vegetables that are grown and packed on the farm, every grower needs to know how to identify and reduce risks. In addition, buyer demand for food safety practices, and the first ever regulation of fresh produce outlined in the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, make knowledge about produce safety important to overall farm viability.

Every participant will be able to download the 340-page PSA Grower Training manual for their use during the course and reference after the course. All who successfully complete will earn a Certificate from the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) through Produce Safety Alliance at Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Produce Safety Alliance.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION – PLEASE READ

Due Dates: Most of the dues dates in the course are recommendations (all requirements must be completed by the end of the course session), but one is a requirement. You MUST successfully complete one required discussion by the 14th day of this 21-day course. A discussion is “successfully completed” when the instructor reviews and accepts your submission. You may not wait until the last few days to submit all of the Required Discussions so be sure you have time within the first two weeks of the course before you register.

Training Manual:  An electronic version (PDF) of the printed manual is provided for course participants to use as a reference. All of the information in the printed manual is in the Online course. Course participants are STRONGLY recommended to order a printed copy of the PSA Grower Training manual ($50 plus shipping) from the NYSAES bookstore. Participants with the printed manual report that they used it extensively as they went through the course.

Note for New York Participants: You do not need to purchase the printed manual. It will be provided to you through the New York grant. When enrolling, please be sure to include your mailing address as you create your user account.

Certificate: In order to receive your Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) certificate, when enrolling, please be sure to include your mailing address as you create your user account. 

Alternate Languages:  The course is currently only available in English. You must be fluent in English to register. The development team is working on a Spanish-language version.