Per the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, large farms’ pre-harvest agricultural water rule compliance went into effect April 7. To assist growers in ensuring they are compliant, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has created a collection of pre-harvest agricultural water requirement resources.
CDFA has created a variety of educational resources including produce safety recordkeeping templates, links to relevant webinars and Food and Drug Administration fact sheets. Further, free Produce Safety Alliance grower trainings are available as follows:
- English live webinars: May 8, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. and July 10, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Spanish live webinars: June 5, 9:00 –11:00 a.m. and August 13, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
- Recorded webinars: English and Spanish
Growers also can receive free on-farm readiness reviews to help them prepare for compliance. To request a review email [email protected]. Free one-on-one technical assistance also is available through the CDFA Technical Assistance Program by emailing [email protected].
Compliance dates for small farms is April 6, 2026 and for very small farms it is April 5, 2027.