During the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative’s informational webinar on April 2, 2024, titled Microbial Considerations in Agricultural Water, Valerisa Gaddy Ph.D. (Diné), breaks down some important things to keep in mind as a producer and/or harvester to ensure food safety best practices.

Dr. Gaddy is originally from Gallup, New Mexico, and is of the Navajo people. Gaddy is an Alumna of the University of Arizona receiving both her Ph.D. and MS in Environmental Science with an emphasis in microbiology. Gaddy’s research and extension interests include developing and validating methods to assess microbial water quality and communicating modern water quality and produce safety methods to growers.

Most recently, Gaddy’s program Irrigation Resources Reaching Indigenous Growers and Tribal Entities, IRRIGaTE was a winner of MIT Solve Finals. Gaddy is using her research to advocate for tribal irrigation resources in Arizona. Gaddy is passionate about environmental science literacy and serving the Navajo people through outreach and engagement.

Download the slides from the webinar by clicking the button, and view the recording at the bottom of this page.

This webinar is supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $498,631 with 100 percent funded by FDA/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.