What It Is and Why It Matters (and do you have to do it?) Agricultural Water Assessment What It Is and Why It Matters (and do you have to do it?)   The FSMA Agricultural Water Assessment can feel intimidating at first. It is a detailed evaluation of pre-harvest agricultural water, and that alone can be enough to make growers feel overwhelmed or start looking for an exemption. Instead, think of the Ag Water Assessment as a research project focused on your farm’s water system.

Agricultural water is an essential part of farm operations. It is used in many on-farm activities and plays a significant role in both farmworker health and produce safety. Water can also be a pathway for contamination of fresh produce. Because water is an effective carrier of pathogens, once it becomes contaminated it has the potential to spread that contamination throughout the farm during normal activities. With pre-harvest agricultural water requirements affecting both la

Diving into the food safety considerations of mushrooms. Photo by Willie Crosby / Small Farms Quarterly Produce Safety Spotlight: Mushrooms! The edible mushroom market is a billion-dollar industry in the United States, and is covered under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule , the same as other fresh produce.   Recalls, Outbreaks, and Misidentifications of Mushrooms One of the earliest documented outbreaks tied to mushrooms occurred in the United States in 1989. Four separate outbre