The project engaged over 125 participants (45 farmer-tenants in ALBA's Organic Farm Incubator; 50 students/aspiring farmers in ALBA's Farmer Education Course; and an estimated 30 non-ALBA farmers) in food safety and financial record-keeping topics. Six workshops were held for farmer-tenants and non-ALBA farmers on food safety topics and five workshops on financial record-keeping. Aspiring farmers in ALBA's Farmer Education Course benefited from eight workshops on financial record-keeping and four workshops on food safety. The workshop topics included:
I. Food Safety
- Basic GAPs and Symptoms of Food-borne Illness
- Mock Food Safety Audits
- Food Safety Record-keeping and Logs
- Food Safety and Organic Requirements in Harvest Activities
I. Financial Record-keeping
- Cash Flow
- Financial Accounting
- Credit and Access to Financing
- Quickbooks
- Alternative Financing
The results of the project include: increased understanding of managing financial and legal risk amongst 95 participants; records maintained by 95 participants; 92 participants obtain food safety certification through GroupGAP or by passing a third-party audit.