Produce Safety Water Testing for Generic E. coli Mini-Grant Application

To qualify for the Produce Safety Water Testing for Generic. E. coli Mini-Grant, the applicant must:

Be a Minnesota produce farmer that sells at least $5,000 annually of produce that is covered by the Produce Safety Rule.
Have purchased FDA-accepted water testing for generic E. coli under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule between September 30, 2017, and December 31, 2020.

To be considered for the Mini-Grant, a complete application must be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture by February 26, 2021. A complete application includes:

The grant application below
Proof that water testing for generic E. coli was purchased and paid for during the eligible time frame.

Applications that do not include proof of water testing are considered incomplete. Incomplete or late applications will be sent a denial notice within one week of the application’s receipt.

Fields marked with an asterisk(*) are required.

Applicant Information

First name

Last name

Farm or company name

Phone

Mailing address

Mailing address city

Mailing address state

Mailing address zip

Mailing address county

Farm location (if different than mailing address)

Farm location city

Farm location state

Farm location zip

Farm location county

Preferred contact method

Mail

Farm Food Safety Training Information

Have you, or a responsible party associated with your farm, attended a Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA) Produce Safety Rule Grower Training?

Yes

FSMA attendee first name

FSMA attendee last name

FSMA training date

FSMA training location

FSMA Grower Training Certificate

Note: We accept scanned or photograph copies of the certificate of attendance, and only require a certificate if the FSMA Grower Training took place outside of Minnesota. If you do not have your FSMA Grower Training certificate of attendance and you attended a training outside of Minnesota, please request it directly from AFDO at afdo@afdo.org or contact us at ProduceSafety.MDA@state.mn.us or 651-539-3641.

Upload requirements

Have you, or a responsible party associated with your farm, attended at least a half-day (3+ hours) Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) training offered by the University of Minnesota?

Yes

GAP attendee first name

GAP attendee last name

GAP training date

GAP training location

GAP Training certificate

Note: We accept scanned or photograph copies of the certificate of attendance. If you do not have your GAP Training certificate of attendance, please contact Annalisa Hultberg at hultb006@umn.edu or 612-625-1951.

Upload requirements

Annual Grower Questionnaire

Has your farm completed the 2021 Annual Grower Questionnaire?

Yes

What is your farm status under the Produce Safety Rule?

If you have not yet received confirmation of your 2021 farm status from the Produce Safety Program, please enter your status from 2020. If your 2021 Annual Grower Questionnaire has been submitted, your current status will be verified with the Produce Safety Program and points will be awarded as applicable. If you have never submitted an Annual Questionnaire for your farm or this is your first year filling it out, please select “N/A”.

If you are unsure whether or not you have already completed the 2021 Annual Grower Questionnaire or have further questions about your farm’s Produce Safety Rule status, please contact us at ProduceSafety.MDA@state.mn.us or call 651-539-3641.

Water Testing

Name of lab

Location of lab

When was the water testing completed?

How many water tests were done?

Total cost of the water testing

Water testing documentation

Please include documentation that identifies the date the water testing was completed, that the testing was for an FDA-accepted water testing method for generic E. coli under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, and that the water testing was paid for. Failure to provide proof of purchase could result in the denial of your grant application. If there is sensitive information in the documents, please cover, remove, or redact it before making copies of your documents. We do not need to know your bank account or credit card information. A copy of the test results is not required.

Upload requirements

I acknowledge that I have read and agreed to the Privacy Notice and Trade Secret Classificiation, and attest that the information I am submitting is true, complete, and accurate.

Privacy Notice and Trade Secret Classification

The data you supply on this form will be used to assess your eligibility for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) Produce Safety Program, Water Testing for Generic E. coli Mini-Grant. The decision to apply for this grant is voluntary, and applicants are not legally required to provide any of the requested information. Applicants may decline to complete this application without any legal consequence. However, only completed applications will be considered for a grant; incomplete applications will not be considered.

Data provided in this application is initially classified by the Minnesota Data Practices Act as private or nonpublic. Some or all of the data will become public at various points of the application process, as detailed below, unless the data are otherwise classified by state or federal law. Access to private or nonpublic data is limited by law to MDA staff and contractors with a valid work assignment to access the data, parties authorized by the applicant or by a valid court order, and other entities authorized by law. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, Minnesota Management and Budget, Minnesota Department of Administration, the state auditor, and the legislative auditor. If necessary, the MDA may also share the data with law enforcement and the Minnesota Office of the Attorney General.

Per Minnesota Statute 13.599:

Names and addresses of grant applicants, and the grant amount requested, will be public data once all of the application responses are opened.
All remaining data in the application responses (except trade secret information, see below) becomes public data after the evaluation process is completed and all grant agreements have been fully executed.
All data created or maintained by the MDA as part of the evaluation process (except trade secret information, see below) will be public data after the evaluation process is completed and all grant agreements have been fully executed.
Trade secret information (as defined in Minnesota Statute. § 13.37) is classified as nonpublic data. For an applicant to protect data submitted as part of this application as trade secret information, the applicant must, at a minimum:
1. identify the specific formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process that applicant believes legally qualifies for trade secret classification;
2. demonstrate that the information is subject to efforts by the applicant that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain the information’s secrecy; and
3. provide an explanation of how the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use.
Determining what constitutes trade secret information is ultimately the responsibility of the MDA, and the MDA cannot guarantee that data marked by an applicant as trade secret information or marked “confidential” will be classified as such. If the MDA determines that data does not meet the definition of trade secret information, that data will be available to the public unless the applicant secures a court order saying otherwise.