GSA Announces Effort to Facilitate Creation of Food Safety Specialist, Advisor Positions to Support New Regional Initiative
The Grower Shipper Association of Central California (GSA) is advancing a new and unique effort to place a food safety specialist and an advisor in the region to promote and fast-track research in the Salinas Valley.
Coming as part of the renowned University of California Cooperative Extension system, GSA is working with the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division (UC-ANR), and allied partners, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) to support the new food safety scientist positions.
“Our vision is to further advance continuous improvement across multiple crops grown in our area by ushering in new technical support resources for farmers, shippers and processors of fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Christopher Valadez, GSA President. “Our goal is to build upon and advance improvements gained through the development and dissemination of technical knowledge to leading edge producers throughout this vital fresh produce production region.”
The new positions will be responsible for developing and executing applied, extension-based research focused exclusively on food safety issues impacting regional fruit and vegetable production. The specialist and advisor are slated to be in Salinas within the USDA’s Sam Farr Crop Improvement and Protection Research Center through a partnership with GSA.
“The ability to conduct region-specific and commodity-specific research to help farmers, shippers and processors continue advancing food safety practices is exciting and we see so much potential for how these positions may evolve,” explains Valadez. “Having new technical advisors available to the farming community to support knowledge transfer while expanding opportunities for new research endeavors helps fill a crucial need for our region,” Valadez adds.
“The extension system within the University of California has had a long-term history of success in helping farmers improve production practices and address issues related to pest and disease control, irrigation, nutrient management, varietal development and both conventional and organic farming practices. So it made sense to apply a similar approach to further advance knowledge and practical applications related to food safety,” Valadez says.
The model envisions the new technical service providers working closely with the local agricultural community and food safety experts on research needs and objectives to ensure a strategic and targeted approach is taken to successfully support the continued advancement of food safety under this new initiative.
GSA, UC-ANR and USDA-ARS have been working on logistics over the last several months and are currently focused on the upcoming recruitment of qualified individuals to fill these critical positions