Safety

Covid-19

Currently, there is no evidence that you can catch COVID-19 from eating food that may have the novel coronavirus on it. Farmoponics follows the guidelines set out by the CDC, state and local officials to limit the spread of Covid -19. It is rare that there is more than 1 person in the cultivation or nursery areas at any one time, if so they are to follow CDC and local distancing guidelines.

Worker Health & Hygiene

PPE

All of our workers in the cultivation areas of our farm wear protective PPE ( Personal Protective Equipment) at all times, such as hairnets, face masks, surgical gloves, booties to cover shoes, and lab coats. This ensures the least potential amount of any pest, insect, or spores contamination from outside.

Hand Washing

All workers are supervised to wash with surfactant or soap before work, before putting on gloves after each bathroom use, and upon return to work at each break.

Cultivation and Nursery Areas

Pets or animals of any kind are not permitted in the cultivation or nursery areas of the farm. Workers in these areas must remove or cover any hand or wrist jewelry. Eating chewing gum and tobacco use of any kind is not permitted in these areas.

Visitors

We are planning events, tours, and educational experiences at our new facility but are not accepting visitors in the cultivation or nursery areas at his time.

Food Safety Plan

Farmoponics has written a Food Safety Plan that all employees are personally trained to understand and implement while on-premises.

Production Water

Farmoponics captures and uses rainwater for most of our production facilities. When our cistern holding tank is low we use Toms River municipal water. All water sources are tested as per FSMA agricultural water quality criteria. All water that enters the cultivation and nursery feed tanks are filtered through our high-efficiency reverse osmosis system and tested again before adding any nutrients or pH balancing. Filters are checked monthly and changed twice a year or sooner depending on use.

Post-Harvest Water

Farmoponics is a wholesale to the public consumer supported agricultural (CSA) driven company that delivers “whole heads” of lettuce and leafy greens to customers. We do not do any cutting, food Preparation, or washing on-site. Even though it has been stated, by others, that hydroponically grown crops do not need to be washed Farmoponics highly recommends washing your crops and utensils after processing at home.

Handling

All workers wear PPE in the cultivation, nursery areas, and while harvesting for delivery. Your hands will be the first to touch your lettuce and leafy greens! During harvesting Up to 3 Full heads or 6 bunches of leafy greens and herbs are immediately placed into a 4.6-quart reusable storage container. We stack up to 3 containers into our reusable cold storage bags where the temperature is maintained with reusable cool packs at approximately 32-36 degrees. From there we place them directly into our delivery truck and send them out for delivery.

Cleaning & Sanitation

We wipe and clean all surfaces every morning and regularly throughout the day. Each cultivation and nursery area is completely disassembled, cleaned, and flushed with earth-friendly cleansers every 3 months and after every major harvest.

Delivery

Crops are placed in the delivery truck straight from harvest right before delivery and are only in the delivery truck for as long as it takes to drive and deliver to your home. Each town’s farm location only delivers locally within 15 mins from the farm’s physical location, so Depending on how far you live from the farm that could literally be only 20 mins from harvest to your door!

Training