Vince Evans of Evans Family Farm.

July 2014 – NC Growing Together, in partnership with NC State University, NC Cooperative Extension, and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA), is providing intensive, hands-on technical support to enable small-scale farmers to achieve Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) certification of their farms.

The USDA-developed GAPs certification system focuses on best practices to minimize microbial contamination risks in the produce supply chain. Although not mandatory for all growers, it has become the industry standard to sell into many larger markets, including most food distributors and retail stores. However, GAPs certification poses a challenge to many small farmers who are daunted by its paperwork requirements and costs.

The full day, two-part workshops include classroom and on-farm instruction on how to minimize on-farm produce contamination risks, as well as direct assistance in completing the food safety plan required for GAPs certification.

Patricia Tripp, who wears two hats as NCGT’s Wholesaler Liaison and CFSA’s Produce Safety Coordinator, conducts the trainings. “It is gratifying to be able to provide the growers with hands-on support, walking them through every step of the process [of GAPs certification],” she says. There are also cost-share funds available through CFSA to help cover the costs of the certification.

Two farmers who recently achieved GAPs certification with NCGT support are Vince Evans and Ed Spence, both of whom farm in the Fayetteville area. With Ms. Tripp’s assistance, both farms passed their GAPs audits and are now ready to begin selling their produce to NCGT partner distributor Foster-Caviness, a contract vendor for NCGT partner Fort Bragg.

“I just don’t think I would have followed through had it not been for Patricia,” said Mr. Evans. “Showing you what the value would be, then taking the time and explaining how the process works” made all the difference for his farm. “We’re getting crops ready now to push to open other markets”, he says.

The next GAPs certification workshop series will be in Hoke County and begins July 30. For more information on future workshops and available resources, including cost-share opportunities, please visit CFSA’s website or contact Patricia Tripp at patriciatripp1@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared in the June/July 2014 NC Growing Together Newsletter.