Food safety is a top priority for California strawberry farmers. Twenty years ago, they were one of the first groups to develop a commodity-specific food safety program. Continuous improvement to this program produced a robust training program with field-ready tools and was recognized with an NSF International Food Safety Award in Education.
Training Program
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3,200 people trained annually.
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69% acreage impacted by participating personnel.
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Majority of participants attend entire series of food safety workshops.
Most farmworkers learn their craft on-the-job as apprentices to veteran employees. As technology and the workforce evolve, the commission offers educational opportunities for employees to increase their knowledge to better implement the best production practices available. Interactive classes have included sprayer calibration, bug vacuum optimization and irrigation & nutrient management.
Calibrate Your Sprayer
This training is recommended for employees that operate, maintain or make decisions with spray equipment on the ranch. We will discuss challenges and offer recommendations to improve spray rig performance. Topics will include tips for calculating the correct amount of spray per acre, tractor speed, avoiding drift, best practices for replacing nozzles and conventional spray rig maintenance.
Making the Most of Your Bug Vacuum
The bug vacuum can be an important tool to help control lygus and other pests during the season. This demonstration will show ways to significantly improve vacuum performance. Topics include component modifications, maintenance and worker training.
Irrigation and Nutrient Management
This program promotes the implementation of irrigation and nutrient best management practices. Workshops are designed for anyone that makes irrigation-related decisions on the ranch, including irrigators, ranch managers and growers. The hands-on, bilingual workshops cover basic principles & best practices for irrigation system design, operation and scheduling.
Farms in California adhere to the most stringent safety standards in the world. The California Strawberry Commission promotes a safe and productive workplace by offering growers, human resource professionals and management-level employees training in heat illness prevention and sexual harassment prevention, among other topics helping growers navigate the complex standards required to ensure a safe workplace.
Sexual Harassment Prevention
Participants learn to identify different kinds of sexual harassment, how to respond to sexual harassment situations, and the requirement of a sexual harassment policy. Class includes information and practical guidance related to regulations, prohibitions, prevention, correction and remedies for sexual harassment at work.
This class meets the requirements of AB 1825, which requires California employers with 50 or more employees to provide two hours of training to all supervisory employees once every two years.
Heat Illness Prevention
This class covers all aspects of heat illness prevention for supervisors: shade, water, signs, and symptoms of heat illness, worker training, and how to develop an emergency action plan.
Supervisor Leadership
Crew boss or supervisors oversee between 15-40 field workers. The realities of engaging a diverse and ever-evolving workforce provides unique challenges in communication, supervision and leadership. The Commission's unique educational program has trained more than 3,000 employees, providing soft skills development for midlevel farm management workers.
Effective Communications
This 2-day workshop is designed for punchers, crew leaders, ranch managers, human resources and food safety personnel to learn and practice effective communication techniques. Participants will become more aware of their role in facilitating communication, reflect on their own habits, and practice more effective ways to improve performance on the ranch.
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Average 40 classes per training season.
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4,500 participants annually.
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All workshops use an accelerated learning model, engaging active participation.