Surfing the internet, I came across a very interesting and inspiring site - AgrAbility Project. The AgrAbility Project was created to assist people with disabilities employed in agriculture. The project links the Cooperative Extension Service at a land-grant university with a private nonprofit disability service organization to provide practical education and assistance that promotes independence in agricultural production and rural living. The AgrAbility Project assists people involved in production agriculture who work both on small and large operations. The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES),an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administers the AgrAbility Project. While the USDA administers the AgrAbility Project, the Project funds both a National AgrAbility Project and several State AgrAbility Projects.
The National AgrAbility Project Staff, in cooperation with their disability partner, provide training, technical assistance, and information on available resources to the State AgrAbility Project staffs. The State AgrAbility staff provide training, site visits, on-farm assessments, technical assistance, and other information directly to the farmer or rancher with a disability. Please refer to each State AgrAbility Project web page for more detailed information about their State AgrAbility Project.
According to the 'State Projects' page of the site, there are currently 27 states offering this service. Each of the projects have the same 3 USDA/CSREES grant objectives:
* Provide education to build service capacity with health, farm and government service providers on accommodating disabilities and preventing secondary injuries.
* Expand program capacity through networking activities of mutually sharing information and resources with non AgrAbility individuals and organizations.
* Provide farmers with disabilities consultative services and technical assistance that increases the likelihood the farmer can continue to farm successfully; such as, modifying or adapting the agricultural operation, buildings, equipment, and/or tools.
The national staff will also provide direct technical consultation to consumers, health and rehabilitation professionals and other service providers on how to accommodate disabilities in production agriculture. For example, staff can assist fabricators with designing hand controls for a tractor. In addition, national staff can provide members of other national and international agricultural and health-related organizations with information and resources to help farmers and ranchers with disabilities.
Visit www.agrabilityproject.org to find out if your state participates and/or if you quality.
