Selection Process

If you are eligible in more than one funding category, your application will be included in the randomized selection for each round that your application qualifies for.

Example: An applicant's farm was confirmed to be fully covered and subject to routine inspection under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule in 2024. The applicant has also attended a Produce Safety Rule Grower Training.

This application would be entered in the selection round for farms that were confirmed to be fully covered in 2024. If not selected/awarded, they would then be entered into next selection round they are eligible for (the training round, in this case). If not selected/awarded, they would then be entered into the 4th and final round. This round consists of all remaining eligible applicants that haven't been awarded in a previous round.

Depending on what funding categories an application qualifies under, an application could be included in at minimum 1 round but maximum 4 rounds. 

Documentation

To be considered for funding under the training category you must submit documentation that indicates you or a member of your farm has:

  • Attended a FSMA Produce Safety Rule Grower Training, or
  • Attended a GAPs training hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension. The University of Minnesota Extension only issues certificates of attendance for GAPs trainings that are minimum half-day (3+ hours) in length. or,
  • Attended a GAPs training hosted by Cornell University
Under what circumstances do I need to submit documentation for food safety training?

To be considered for funding under the training category you must submit documentation that indicates you or a member of your farm has:

  • Attended a FSMA Produce Safety Rule Grower Training, or
  • Attended a GAPs training hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension. The University of Minnesota Extension only issues certificates of attendance for GAPs trainings that are minimum half-day (3+ hours) in length. or,
  • Attended a GAPs training hosted by Cornell University
No
  • If you attended a Grower Training hosted by the MDA and no longer have a copy of your certificate of attendance for a Produce Safety Rule Grower Training, please contact the Produce Safety Program.
    • If you attended a Grower Training hosted by another state, please contact afdo@afdo.org to obtain a copy of your certificate.
  • If you no longer have a copy of your certificate of attendance for a GAPs training (minimum half-day, 3+ hours) hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension, please submit a letter or an email from the University of Minnesota Extension staff verifying you have attended the training. Please contact Annalisa Hultberg at hultb006@umn.edu or 612-625-1951.
What if I do not have a copy of my certificate of attendance for food safety training?
  • If you attended a Grower Training hosted by the MDA and no longer have a copy of your certificate of attendance for a Produce Safety Rule Grower Training, please contact the Produce Safety Program.
    • If you attended a Grower Training hosted by another state, please contact afdo@afdo.org to obtain a copy of your certificate.
  • If you no longer have a copy of your certificate of attendance for a GAPs training (minimum half-day, 3+ hours) hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension, please submit a letter or an email from the University of Minnesota Extension staff verifying you have attended the training. Please contact Annalisa Hultberg at hultb006@umn.edu or 612-625-1951.
No

To be considered for funding under the training category you must submit documentation that indicates you or a member of your farm has:

  • Attended a FSMA Produce Safety Rule Grower Training, or
  • Attended a GAPs training hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension. The University of Minnesota Extension only issues certificates of attendance for GAPs trainings that are minimum half-day (3+ hours) in length. or,
  • Attended a GAPs training hosted by Cornell University
  • If you attended a Grower Training hosted by the MDA and no longer have a copy of your certificate of attendance for a Produce Safety Rule Grower Training, please contact the Produce Safety Program.
    • If you attended a Grower Training hosted by another state, please contact afdo@afdo.org to obtain a copy of your certificate.
  • If you no longer have a copy of your certificate of attendance for a GAPs training (minimum half-day, 3+ hours) hosted by the University of Minnesota Extension, please submit a letter or an email from the University of Minnesota Extension staff verifying you have attended the training. Please contact Annalisa Hultberg at hultb006@umn.edu or 612-625-1951.

Grower Questionnaire and Farm Status

We understand the inconvenience of having to submit similar information in multiple places. However, in order to maintain data privacy, we are asking you to submit your mini-grant application separately from your Grower Questionnaire. If we used the data from your questionnaire response for the mini-grant application, all of your questionnaire data could become public.