The Universities of Maine and New Hampshire Cooperative Extension programs have joined forces to help produce farmers start or improve their Farm Food Safety Planning with Jumpstart to Farm Food Safety.

This yearlong technical support from UMaine and UNH Extension educators is completely free. After signing up to participate in the project, the sponsors will visit participants’ farms to help identify and prioritize needed food safety modifications. Then they will develop a plan to improve food safety and increase the keeping-quality of fresh produce. The program will also assist via phone calls and emails. Technical support will be provided for a year, and after that period most or all primary parts of a Farm Food Safety Plan should be in place.

The sponsors will host a webinar to offer more information about the project and provide instructions on how to participate. Farms of any size can participate in this introductory webinar. However, they will give priority to small and medium-sized farms to enter the project and receive technical support.

The informational webinar will occur on March 1 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact: Robson Machado (Maine) at robson.machado@maine.edu or by calling 207-581-3144, or Mary Choate (New Hampshire) at mary.choate@unh.edu or by calling 603-787-6944.