Before Planting Follow these GAPs before planting produce to avoid contaminating the crop: • Assess the likelihood that the produce will be thoroughly cooked before being eaten. If it will not be cooked, then preventing on-farm contamination from pathogens is especially important. • Locate production sites uphill, upstream, and upwind from areas where manure is stored or animals are grazed or housed. • Assess the potential of nearby feedlots, animal pastures, or livestock farms to contaminate your produce fields. • Avoid fields that regularly flood or are exposed to excessive runoff. • Store manure away from growing and handling areas, and store it in a manner that prevents runoff and wind drift. • I f you use manure or other animal products (such as blood meal, bone meal, feather meal) as soil amendments, reduce the contamination risk by following one or more of these practices: - A pply the soil amendment long before harvest, preferably when soils are warm (>50oF) and nonsaturated. We recommend applying untreated manure at least nine months before harvesting produce, ideally to a cover or agronomic crop. Specific audit or certification programs may require longer or shorter periods between application and harvest (for example, the USDA National Organic Program requires only 120 days for many crops).