Project Description:
The Texas AgrAbility Projects focus is on connecting, assisting, and empowering agricultural producers, their family members, and employees with disabilities and chronic health conditions to stay engaged in production agriculture.
Agriculture work is considered one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States, with an estimated 50,000 disabled farmers and ranchers in Texas. Disabling conditions such as arthritis, amputation, back injuries, heart conditions, traumatic brain injury, and others impact a producer's ability to perform many of the day-to-day tasks necessary to their operations. These disabilities are often the result of a dangerous work environment where workers often toil in conditions that contribute to or increase the risk of health problems. For example, risks associated with farm equipment operation, handling of livestock, exposure to excessive vibration and motions, potential for increased falls, respiratory hazards, and exposure to extreme temperatures contribute to the overall risk for farmers, ranchers, employees, and family members. There is evidence to suggest that some disabling conditions may increase the risk for secondary injury if preventative steps are not taken. It is estimated that each year, a disabling injury related to work in agriculture occurs on one in every 117 farms. Physical disabilities not related to agriculture increase the rate to one disabling injury for every 24 Texas farms.
Overall Goals and Objectives
The Texas AgrAbility ACE program goal is to connect, assist, and empower agricultural producers, their family members, and employees with disabilities and chronic health conditions to stay engaged in production agriculture. The project does so by:
- Assisting service providers to better understand the unique needs of the agricultural producers as it relates to acquired disabilities and chronic illnesses through training and technical assistance.
- Connecting individuals with a disability to resources specific to their individual needs and to their type of agriculture operation.
- Empowering those who need our services to better navigate the many systems for acquiring disability services and resources, such as assistive technology, to help them in their efforts to remain in production agriculture.
Unusual Features
The Texas AgrAbility Project assists individuals to overcome barriers that might otherwise impair their ability to remain in production agriculture by providing:
- Education to individuals with disabilities and their families engaged in production agriculture, as well as service providers who work with them, to increase knowledge about accommodating disabilities, improving function, and avoiding secondary injuries.
- Consultative assistance such as individualized farm and ranch assessment, home environment assessment, financial business analysis, and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses to increase the likelihood that these agriculture producers will remain in production agriculture
- Networking and marketing of the Texas AgrAbility Project to build the capacity to deliver services to the agricultural production employment field through networking and marketing activities with include the dissemination of information, and the identification of AgrAbility clients. Additionally, project staff will foster linkages to disability and health resources.
Expected Benefits
By adopting AgrAbility's recommendations, persons in the AgrAbility program will increase their ability to:
o Retain/maintain employment in chosen profession
o Manage their farm/ranch
o Complete chores
o Operate machinery
o Gain access to their worksite
Additional expected benefits include:
o General population awareness of employment options for individuals with disabilities in production agriculture
o Disabilities service providers awareness of employment options for individuals with disabilities in production agriculture
o Positive economic impact at the individual, community, and state levels.
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FY 2022:
Battle Ground to Breaking Ground - 46 participants
- 28 in Cohort 10
- 23 in cohort 11
- 969 Contact Hours
AgrAbility:
- 25 Individuals have completed the Occupational Therapy course with pre to post knowledge gain of 48%
- An occupational therapy doctoral student from Univeristy of St. Augustine conducted a research study to determine the efficacy of the Occupational Therapy online course. The research included a focus group to gather qualitative and quantitative data. The data will provide insight for the further development and improvement of the Occupational Therapy course in meeting the needs of rural practitioners
- Delivered (with BGBG) a 12-part educational series to 51 BGBG participants with 960 educational contact hours.
- Provided 2 OT based farm and ranch assessment educational trainings
- Conducted 9 training sessions with 237 individuals (237 educational hours)
- 3 educational facts translated to spanish
- Texas AgrAbility Video Blog series developed on mental health challenges
- Texas AgrAbility hosted 4 educational webinars based on topics of interest submitted by the communities of interest. "Navigating Advocacy & Vocational Rehab for Self-Employment", "AgrAbility Services for BattleGround to Breaking Ground Participants", Disability in the Agriculture Workplace for Migrant & Seasonal Farmworkers, and "Promoting Independent Living in Rural Communities". 75 individuals attended the webinars.
- The Texas AgrAbility Blog shares information, resources, and assistive technology. There are 48 blog posts with 1154 subscribers
- Texas AgrAbility published an annual impact brief that was disseminated to the project advisory committee, stakeholder group, and through the email newsletter. The brief highlights the project's impact throughout the year and has been downloaded 235 times.
- Conducted seven on-site work farm/ranch assessments and recommended changes. Additionally Texas AgrAbility provided a virtual worksite assessment to 56 individuals with recommendations for assistive technologies and/or task modifications
- The Texas AgrAbility YouTube channel provides an accessible format for housing educational videos with closed captioning and accessibility features provided. There are currently 189 subscribers with 65 educational videos posted with over 1,700 views in FY 2021
- Texas AgrAbility staff submitted a grant proposal for the AgrAbility grant in 2022 to continue to provide services for farmers and ranchers with disabilities in Texas. The Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program Grant that Texas AgrAbility collaborated on was funded for 3 years ($). The grant will enable Texas AgrAbility to support military veterans and beginning farmers and ranchers with disabilities.
- Two client testimonial videos were produced and shared through the email newsletter and YouTube channel to promote services provided to clients through Texas AgrAbility. Partnerships between vocational rehabilitation and the BattleGround to Breaking Ground program were highlighted as part of the videos.
- A migrant and seasonal farmworker brochure was developed and translated into Spanish to promote Texas AgrAbility services provided to the population
- The Texas AgrAbility delivers a monthly email newsletter highlighting upcoming events, assistive technology, resources for disabled and beginning farmers and ranchers, and highlighted client and partner stores. The newsletter currently has 1154 subscribers.
- The Texas AgrAbility Blog shares information, resources, and assistive technology. There are 48 blog posts with 1154 subscribers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Geographic Areas, Rural/Remote, Urban, Other
