What Do Proposed Ag Water Requirements Mean For NW Producers?

The FDA has proposed significant changes to Subpart E of the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, which would amend the pre-harvest ag water requirements. To help growers understand what this proposal means, and how it could impact their operation, the Washington State Department of Agriculture is teaming up with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture to host a webinar Wednesday, highlighting the changes. The WSDA’s Connie Fisk said many in industry were not happy with the water requirements in the original Produce Safety Rule.

“They didn’t understand why it was different than their GAP audit, they thought it was too many samples, it added up to too much expense and it was really difficult for growers using multiple water sources because they had to test them all every year. And so, FDA took that feedback and tried to revise this section of the rule to be more systems based and to be based on science and therefor to be flexible.”

The Produce Safety Rule was first adopted in 2015 and is one of the seven rules that make up FSMA. More than half of Washington’s produce farms covered by FSMA use surface water for pre-harvest ag water uses, including irrigation. With that in mind, Fisk said it’s important growers and producers are involved, and provide concise feedback.

“So what are those challenges that are unique to Washington or are unique to the Northwest? That’s what we’re going to be addressing in this webinar, but then the next step is for growers to take that information and actually put it in writing, so FDA has it when they go back to the drawing board to make their final revisions.”

To participate in Wednesday’s informational webinar:

Wednesday, March 2^nd from noon to 1 p.m. [Pacific Time]
Zoom link - Northwest Regional Webinar on Proposed Agricultural Water Rule
- Meeting ID: 863 5288 9010
- Passcode: 466464
Or join by phone: 253-215-8782

The FDA is accepting comments on the proposed rule change until April 5^th. Visit Regulations.gov and enter docket number FDA-2021-N-0471 in the search box to bring up the proposed rule and click on the ‘comment’ button.

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com