AgrAbility News for April 2020

May 20, 2020 News

Maine AgrAbility News

Maine AgrAbility’s Boots to Bushels (B2B) class continued via Zoom this month. The transition to the Zoom platform was smooth, having had several inclement weather days resulting in Zoom use since B2B started in January 2020. This last class included an interview with Bangor Daily News asking about the impact of the program, especially during this public health crisis.

  • “I’m using this as a therapy. Watching a seed, supporting it, watching it grow. There’s nothing better than that. I’m enjoying every moment of it.” B2B participant.
  • “Food is great way to ingrain yourself into a community and support that community.” Farming is a form of “security to support myself and community, no matter what happens, farming a is cornerstone for any community to grow around.” B2B participant.

To donate to the continuation of this program, please visit: our.umaine.edu/agrability

Staff are working with Kennebec Valley Community College (KVCC) to be part of their re-imagined Level 1 OT Field work experience for Spring 2020. Several of Maine AgrAbility’s OT partners are participating in the Virtual Fieldwork 1 student experience scheduled in May. They will be presenting information and having virtual Q&A with students about AgrAbility, home health, home modifications, adaptive driving, and assistive technology.

Maine AgrAbility has been meeting weekly via Zoom to keep a forward momentum as well as to support morale with a few laughs. Staff are developing new webinar presentations, reaching out to clients, and supporting network partners to develop relevant resources for Maine farmers.

National AgrAbility News

AgrAbility NTW Version 2.0
Plans for the re-scheduled AgrAbility National Training Workshop are well under way! Contracts have been re-negotiated, speakers re-scheduled, and participants looking forward to a gathering kicking off on November 30th. More
Put 2-1-1 in Your Toolbox! Stress over things that are out of our control is nothing new to farmers, ranchers, and agricultural workers. To say that today’s conditions have added to that stress is an understatement. More
Carla Wilhite is assembling a working group to develop a National AgrAbility curriculum that can be shared as an open source to educate rehabilitation professionals (OT, PT, speech, nursing, case managers, VR) about the rehabilitation needs of farmers and ranchers with health conditions. If you’re interested, contact Carla at CWilhite@salud.unm.edu.
The AgrAbility webinar, “Disability and Agriculture Outside the U.S. – an International Panel Discussion,” is now archived with the presentation materials at www.agrability.org/online-training/archived/webinar-series/.
The archive of the AgrAbility all-staff meeting of May 15 is available at www.agrability.org/extranet/staff-resources along with presentation materials from AgrAbility in Georgia on virtual farm visits.

Toolbox Spotlight

With the Towed Single-Bale Mover, one can reportedly load, transport, and unload a big round bale from the seat of his/her tractor, pickup, or UTV – all via hand-held controller. Both the Tumblebug and the 2EZ Bale Mover accomplish this task but do so differently.