California Agricultural Neighbors
California Agricultural Neighbors
In partnership with California Department of Food & Agriculture, Monterey County Farm Bureau is co-leading the California Agricultural Neighbors (CAN) initiative, bringing together stakeholders from “both sides of the fence” to discuss and review food safety practices related to leafy green and vegetable production when adjacent to rangeland operations. More information and videos about CAN can be viewed here.
Objectives of this initiative:
- Share food safety initiatives underway in California
- Provide details about the California Agricultural Neighbors work
- Engage in a dialogue – today and beyond
- Develop an Action Report for future strategies on food safety
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Monterey County Farm Bureau (MCFB) on June 30, 2022 announced the release of the CAN Action Report “California Agricultural Neighbors: Neighbor-to-Neighbor Best Practices to Help Enhance Localized Food Safety Efforts.”
California Agricultural Neighbors (CAN) was formed in January 2021, led by CDFA and MCFB, to bring together members of the Salinas Valley agriculture community to review what could be done to help reduce continued outbreaks of pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 associated with leafy greens. CAN provided a roundtable opportunity to foster collaboration and discuss enhanced neighborly food safety practices when various agricultural operations such as leafy green fields, cattle ranches, vineyards and compost sites are adjacent to one another. CAN membership includes representatives from agriculture production, various industry and consumer associations, academia and government.
Actions for enhanced food safety outlined in the report include: Foster Neighbor-to-Neighbor Interactions and Conversations, Build a Research Roadmap for the Salinas Valley, Create a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) Framework, and Build and Maintain Capacity to Transfer Knowledge from Research into Applied Practice.
Click here to view “California Agricultural Neighbors: Neighbor-to-Neighbor Best Practices to Help Enhance Localized Food Safety Efforts”
Click here to view a one-page summary of the food safety actions outlined in the report.
CAN held three webinars on topics identified as needing more expert information and background; click the following links to view the recorded webinars hosted by the California Farm Bureau Federation in partnership with the Monterey County Farm Bureau and CDFA:
Reservoirs of E. coli O157:H7 and other STEC – presented on June 30, 2021 – view the video of this webinar here
Off-farm factors that may affect STEC movement on the landscape – presented on July 7, 2021 – view the video of this webinar here
On-farm factors that may affect STEC survival and contact with produce – presented on July 14. 2021 – view the video of this webinar here