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COVID-19 Preparedness Plan now required for all farms and farmers' markets

Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, Food Safety
Updated 6/18/20

See press release from Minnesota Department of Agriculture (6/18/20)

Under Minnesota Executive Order 20-48, issued in April of 2020, farms and farmers’ markets were designated critical businesses and could stay open during the stay-at-home order along with grocery stores and other critical infrastructure.

Under the governor's new Executive Order 20-74 all critical sector businesses, including farms and farmers’ markets, are required to develop and implement a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan by June 29, 2020.  All non-critical sector businesses that are just recently re-opening are also required to create a COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.

The completed business preparedness plan is not required to be submitted to the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) for approval, but needs to be made available upon request. The farm or farmers' market should just keep the plan on file if requested.


Templates


The Minnesota DLI has created a sample preparedness plan template (updated June 15th) that includes all required plan components and is available in Hmong, Somali, and Spanish.

You may use other templates, such as the produce farm-specific plan created by the University of Minnesota Extension in partnership with the University of WI, if all components in the DLI sample plan are addressed.

Additional Resources

For more COVID-19 resources specific to farms from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, visit MDA COVID-19 Food and Agriculture. Questions may be sent to MDAResponds@state.mn.us.

For additional information or assistance in developing a plan, businesses can contact MNOSHA Workplace Safety Consultation at 651-284-5060 or osha.consultation@state.mn.us.


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