Farm Fresh Assurance helps growers sell to giant grocers

ROYAL CITY - Growers who'd like to sell their produce to grocery giants like Costco, Kroger's and Safeway would do well to call Steve Jack, owner of recently-organized Farm Fresh Assurance.

In July Jack started a career through which he helps growers achieve the food safety standards the giants and nearly all of the grocery industry demand. He is a registered advisor for Global Gap's Farm Assure Program.

Global Gap is a German company which has developed the food safety standards that most big chains demand. Once a grower makes it onto the Global Gap data base, his produce can start to flow to the Costcos.

The size of the farm doesn't matter, according to Jack. Costco deals with many small growers, he said.

There are several steps to getting onto the Global Gap data base. The first is to understand them. Jack can help. The second is to take them. Jack can help with that, too.

Jack is a relative newcomer to the Royal Slope. He came here looking for a high school for the last of his seven children, Jeff, who had become a highly-recruited ninth-grade football star in the Kent area.

"I wanted to get him away from the bad influences I thought could come out of that," Jack said.

Jack also wanted to get back near his roots. He'd grown up on a 3,000-acre family produce farm in California's Imperial Valley. He was tiring of managing the Seattle office of Beneficial Life.

Jack's daughter was married to Derek Allred, and that brought him into contact with Royal football coach Wiley Allred. He knew Royal would meet his and his son's needs.

Jack moved his family in 2003 and started a tax and accounting business. He had an accounting degree from Brigham Young University.

In 2007, Jack became the credit manager for CHS, the farm services company. That same year he started to hear about Global Gap, which was coming to the U.S.

Learning later that auditors were needed in the process of bringing a farm to Global Gap standards, Jack started taking food safety courses through Washington State University. And he took the SQF lead auditor training course in Chicago.

Somewhere along the way - Jack isn't sure how - Global Gap officials got Jack's name and gave him a call this spring. They wanted to talk to him about their goals in the U.S. to see if they might match up with his personal goals.

Although Jack is certified by Global Gap to be a consultant, he is not in the company's employ. He formed Farm Fresh Assurance, an independent business which provides to farmers the expertise to get on the Global Gap data base. Fall happens to be the time of year when he should be most in demand.

"In spring and summer growers are too busy farming," he said.

Once a farmer contracts Jack, his job is to help the farmer set up every detail of the operation to meet the Global Gap standards. That includes the storage of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals and adequate sanitation and toiletry.

"Hygiene is extremely important," Jack said.

While the grower carries out these physical tasks, Jack sits down to write policies and procedures for each facet of the operation. There must be a food safety handbook.

"I love it," Jack said. "It's the relationship with agriculture I always wanted. I love the farm atmosphere, and I love to write."

Jack writes a "Food Safety" column for the California on-line publication Desert Review.

After Jack and the grower finish their tasks, an independent auditing company comes in. If everything is up to standard, it sends a report to Global Gap so that the grower may go onto the data base.

If the auditor determines the grower is not up to Global Gap standards, the grower is given 28 days for corrections and a new audit. The grower has the option of bringing Jack back or not.

Growers can have more than one crack at meeting the standards, but in some cases they'll have to repeat the entire process. It's best to do it right the first time.

Jack has worked with three area growers so far. In the latest case he helped the grower deal with some audit issues.