What is a Specialty Crop?
Specialty crops are fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops (including floriculture). Please click here to view a more exhaustive list of California specialty crops.
For more information regarding this grant, please visit the CDFA website by clicking here.
The project beneficiaries are the local Tulare and Kings counties’ specialty crop industry and their workforce, from farms and packinghouses to food processing plants. They benefit by having access to value-added, local, convenient, and affordable food safety training. This project will benefit several specialty crops in the fruits, tree nuts, vegetables, and herbs categories. Some of crops are; almonds, grapes, apricots, cherries, pomegranates, olives, peaches, pears, pistachios, walnuts, tomatoes, nectarines, oranges and other citrus fruits.
How is COS Using the Grant?
This project will enable the specialty crop industry to enhance its competitiveness by ensuring compliance to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). It will support California’s Central Valley specialty crop industry with the adoption of FSMA requirements by providing local and affordable food safety trainings.
The local specialty crop industry has difficulty attending convenient and affordable food safety training as these trainings are offered in the larger cities and require out of town travel that is costly and disruptive to their business operations. College of the Sequoias has experience delivering local, convenient and affordable FSMA and related food safety trainings.
The project’s aim is to reach the local specialty crop industry and their workforce on farms, packing houses and food processing plants. The project will measure success by the number of participants completing FSMA and related food safety trainings and their increased level of food safety skills and knowledge.
What Kind of Training is COS Doing for Specialty Crops?
- Produce Safety Rule
- Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
- Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
- Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCQI)
- Foreign Supplier Verification
To view more information on these trainings, including upcoming dates, please click on each link above.
Progress Reports
Progress has been reported annually to the COS Board.
Specialty Crop Grant 2020 20-0001-027-SF:
- Progress Report #1: November 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021
- Progress Report #2: April 1 – September 30, 2021
- Progress Report #3: October 2021-March 2022
- Progress Report #4: (FINAL)
Specialty Crop Grant 2018 18-0001-036-SC:
- Progress Report #1: November 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019
- Progress Report #2: April 1, 2019 – September 30, 2019
- Progress Report #3: October 1, 2019 – March 31, 2020
- Progress Report #4: (FINAL)
