The purpose of this symposium is to build on the success of our roundtable session, last year, entitled “A Real-World Conversation about Food Safety and Microbial Quality of Sustainable Diversified Farming Systems”.  We received numerous questions and action items during and after the round table. From this information, six topics that impact farmer implementation of the produce safety rules and knowledge gaps within these farming systems impacting farmer rule compliance will be addressed.  This symposium will address the following topics: 1) Risks associated with proximity of small animal herds to fruit and vegetable production systems; 2) In-field human pathogen die-off in raw manure following the NOP standard; 3) Small to medium farmers perspective on microbial risks and FSMA regulations within their farming operations; 4) Impacts of riparian areas and buffer zones on wild life corridors and fresh produce safety; 5) Antimicrobial resistance within small and medium size farming systems; and 6) Risk assessment in small to medium size farming systems.

Presentations