Fruit and Vegetable News

  -Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator food safety  Food safety is a critical part of all produce farm operations. One of the best ways to protect your customers and prevent your business from being involved in a foodborne illness outbreak is to maintain good food safety practices on your farm and keep basic food safety records. Learning about Good Agricultural Practices and current food safety laws are a great way to build your farm's plan for preventing foodborne illness from spreading from food that you grow and sell.  One great way to do that is to attend a GAPs or FSMA training course.  Note:  All of these courses are accepted as documentation of food safety training for the  Produce Safety Mini Grant  from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, which will open later this winter. FSMA Produce Safety Rule Trainings If your farm is fully covered by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, at least one supervisor or responsib...

The UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and the UMN Center for Sustainable Building Research are collaborating to design and build a prototype Clean Energy Farm Stand featuring solar power and cooling capabilities. The team is looking for input to help guide the design: you can complete their short survey here.  

The dormant season is a time filled with conferences, webinars, and workshops for growers to continue their education, along with everything else that comes up as a priority during this time.  Below are a few opportunities for continued education with fruit farming.  Minnesota Apple Growers Association Conference Description : This two-day conference is specific to apple production and goes over a number of topics relevant to commercial growers including breeding updates from UMN, information about trellising, roostocks, and more! Location : La Crescent, MN Dates : January 6-7 UMN Extension session : Supporting pollinators on apple orchards Register for this conference here! Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association Conference Description : A conference that supports a variety of education related to vegetable and fruit production with a wide variety of topics.  Location : Waite Park, MN Dates : January 28-29 UMN Extension session : Introduction to apple productio...

We often hear that funding is one of the biggest barriers to farming. Fruit and vegetable farms require a lot of infrastructure and equipment to get started and to scale up production. Take some time this winter to check out the following funding opportunities that can help you pay for equipment, infrastructure, and conservation initiatives.  RSDP farmer climate action funding - applications due January 2. Funding available to MN farmers outside of the 7 county metro for grants up to $8,000 for "shovel-ready" projects that can be completed by December 31, 2026. This grant can cover equipment, renewable energy projects, etc. This money is super flexible and can cover things that other grants cannot. Your soil water conservation district can pay for cover crop seed, EQIP can pay for a high tunnel - what can't be covered by these programs? Lakewinds Organic Field Fund provides small scholarships for infrastructure, equipment, etc. Their application will be open January 1-30 ...