Hope every one had a Great Christmas and Happy New Year
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| My Granddaughter loves to help pick Raspberries |
Starting Our New Year 2019, not New Year resolutions, But a list of what we do for “Food Safety”
Each week for the next 7 weeks we shall address
how Country Taste Farm address “Food Safety”
1. Soil Health
2. Plant Health
3. Employee Training
4. Harvest
5. Produce Sanitation
6. Packaging
7. Delivery to end user
Week # 1 Soil Health “Food Safety”
Starting
with the soil a major item that we address fertility, we use manures and
compost as the base for our fertilizer requirements. Unfortunately, fresh manure can also contain bacteria
that can contaminate vegetables and cause human disease. Proper
composting will kill these bacteria, but steps must be taken to ensure that the
manure gets hot enough for a sufficient time during composting. Storing manure
in a pile will cause some death of disease-causing bacteria, but is not
regarded as a reliable way to destroy them. The risk of
bacterial contamination from manure is serious enough that USDA National
Organic Program (NOP) rules specifically address
when non-composted manure can be applied to soil used for vegetable
production. The NOP rules state that if vegetables have edible parts that
might contact the soil (either directly or via rain/irrigation splash), then
manure must be applied at least 120 days before harvest. For a crop like
sweet corn, where the edible portion is not exposed to soil, the limit is 90
days before harvest. We follow these
rules to the letter. Manure and compost
does not provide for all of the needs for our fruit and vegetables. We also
plant cover crops such as field peas which will add nitrogen to the soil. We
take soil samples and send them to be analyzed. The laboratory sends back
recommendations to add nutrients that are lacking in the soil. We have a custom
bend of fertilizers including micro ingredients, calcium, Lime and apply it to
balance the soil for our plants needs.
Organic practices help reduce Chemicals residue, We are doing Much more for food Safety:
"Know Your Farmer Know Your Food"
