Prevalence and cost of on-farm produce safety measures in the Mid-Atlantic |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-5535, USA;2. Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250-0002, USA;2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331;3. Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405;4. Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison 53706;5. Jasper Hill Farm, Greensboro, VT 05842;11. Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, Albany, NY 12235;1. Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, Lower Eastern Shore Research and Education Center, Salisbury, MD, USA;2. University of Maryland Extension, Baltimore County, Cockeysville, MD, USA;3. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA;4. University of Maryland Extension, Dorchester County, Cambridge, MD, USA;5. Carvel Research and Education Center, University of Delaware, Georgetown, DE, USA |
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| Abstract: | We use data from a survey of leafy green and tomato growers in the Mid-Atlantic region to investigate the prevalence and cost of produce safety practices required under the Produce Rule of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Majorities of our respondents currently employ most of the food safety practices that will be required under the Produce Rule. But the Produce Rule will nevertheless require changes on the part of some growers. We find that farm size has a statistically and quantitatively negligible relationship with the use of most produce safety practices except for the sampling and testing of water, soil amendments, and product samples. Contrary to the theoretical literature suggesting that traceability increases incentives to take precautionary measures, we find little evidence that the use of produce safety practices is correlated with any marketing channel. We do find that all of these practices exhibit substantial increasing returns to scale, implying that the burden of complying with the provisions of the Produce Rule is much lower for large operations than small ones. |
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| Keywords: | Food safety Produce safety Food safety modernization act Tomatoes Leafy greens Compliance cost Regulatory burden Mid-Atlantic Vegetable growers |
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