Most of you are aware of the hard work of our farming neighbors to overcome, hail, wind, drought, pests and low prices, just to put food on our tables. However, it is likely that few of you are familiar with the efforts they make to keep our environment and food healthy. The Grand Traverse Conservation District (GTCD) has been a partner with local growers for many years in working toward an even healthier environment and is furthering those efforts in the upcoming months with a series of workshops.
These educational workshops will help Northwest Michigan agricultural producers stay on top of the latest trends and regulations for keeping their farm environmentally verified. The GTCD four-county Groundwater Stewardship Program will be co-hosting these workshops with the Grand Traverse Fruit Growers Council, Northwest Farm Bureau and Michigan Land Use Institute. The workshops will introduce farmers to the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP). They will not only learn about the MAEAP program and the requirements to get verified, they will also get a Michigan Department of Agriculture update, new information about the 2008 Farm Bill programs, cost-effective containment options and learn about proper well water sampling and testing requirements.
The attending farmers will also learn about another verification program called Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). GAP is third-party food safety audit that is required of farms by many processors of fresh fruit and vegetables. The GAP program is intended to assess a farm’s efforts to minimize the risk of contamination of fresh fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products from microbial pathogens. Many local buyers, including Meijer, Spartan Stores and many others, require agricultural producers to complete and pass the GAP program. The on-farm audits are completed during harvest of the products, when the food is being handled the most .
The meetings will be taking place on February 22 at the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Station and all local farmers are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.
Working with its many partners, the GTCD is very pleased to provide services through the MAEAP and GAP verification programs to help our local farmers protect the health of the environment - and us.