In this episode we visit Sysourath Farms in Fresno, California. Veomany Sysourath, a second generation farmer, shares about her family’s history emigrating to the United States, working in agriculture and eventually starting their farm. Sysourath Farms grows a variety of Southeast Asian specialty crops on leased land, which presents infrastructure challenges. We learn about the farm’s food safety practices and requirements under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), plus innovative tools they use to ensure their farm complies with FSMA. 

SHOW NOTES:

• This blog post can help farmers determined how they must comply with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule (PSR): https://caff.org/small-farm-fsma-series-part-1-of-4/
• This factsheet explains the record keeping requirements for farms that need to be in full compliance with FSMA: https://caff.org/fsma-recordkeeping-vs-organic-recordkeeping/
• The PSA Grower Training Course is one way to satisfy the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement outlined in § 112.22(c) that requires ‘At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.’ Fully covered farms must have record of one current employee attending this training. See this list of upcoming trainings: https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/grower-training-courses/upcoming-grower-trainings/
• Fresno Asian Business Institute & Resource Center (ABIRC) – a nonprofit organization, whose mission is to support and promote strong networks of Asian business owners in the Central CA region, including farmers: https://www.facebook.com/fresnoasianbusinessinstitute/
• CAFF’s Food Safety Templates (including employee training topics and recordkeeping logs): https://caff.org/food-safety/food-safety-plan-templates/

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