Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** maine agriculture has…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** maine agriculture has historically been comprised of many varied commodities and production systems and IT continues to be so today. Enterprises range from land-based food and ornamental horticulture products aquaculture operations value-added food and fiber and forest sector products. Maine's agricultural economy contains a rich mixture of wholesale and retail agricultural operations. Maintaining this varied and vital agricultural sector is essential to the overall health of the maine economy as well as to the rural character and culture of the state. Maine's 7600 farms encompass more than 1.3 million acres of land. The average farm size is 171 acres and farm cash receipts statewide exceed $660 million annually with a total economic value of over $1.2 billion. Commercial fishing and aquaculture have $1.4 billion in economic impact and support 12188 jobs in maine. Forestry and logging jobs account for about 4100 jobs and wood harvesting is an integral part of maine's forest products industry making up several of maine's most valuable exports. Agriculture ranks as one of the most dangerous jobs. Due to the nature of the tasks and work environment workers and family members are at high risk for fatalities and injuries. Even with these risks maine is attracting new and beginning farmers and more land is returning to agriculture production. An increase in maine's disability population coupled with an aging farm population puts the agriculture sector in a difficult situation. Farmers need adaptive tools and access to resources if they are to remain productive and financially stable. Nearly 16% of maine residents have one or more disabilities compared to 13% of the U.S. As a whole. With nearly 30000 mainers engaged in some aspect of agricultural production we estimate that approximately 4800 farmers and farm workers in maine have a disability. With a relatively large geographic area (33215 square miles) and a comparatively small population (1.3M people) health care and preventive resources are not readily available in rural agricultural areas of maine. Many of these rural maine citizens are unaware of existing safety- and disability-related resources. Noting that farms are critical community resources and engines for maine's economic growth a 2019 report identified agriculture-related needs and priorities in maine. One resource GAP identified for maine farmers was access to information resources and training. This GAP extends to disabilities as well. During farm assessments maine agrability staff have observed that when someone acquires or develops a disability on the farm the entire operation is compromised. Production agriculture workers with a disability face many obstacles including:lack of effective worksite accommodations particularly in self-employmenteconomic constraints including insufficient or non-existent wage loss insurancegeographic isolation and insufficient knowledge about health and rehabilitation serviceslack of knowledge about farm services and alternative funding streams we found that rehabilitation professionals lacked knowledge and experience of maine's many different types ofagricultural occupations and that there is insufficient collaboration between rehabilitation and agricultural professionals to support these workers. As a result the services for agricultural workers with disabilities are disjointed and lacking causing some farmers to go out of business feeling there were no other options. Others continue to farm tolerating pain and placing themselves at risk of acquiring secondary injuries or illnesses. Through outreach education networking and direct assistance we have built a successful project supporting land-based farmers. We have been expanding our outreach to the fishing and forestry industries using the existing disability resources. Since 2010 we have provided direct assistance to 119 farmers fishermen or loggers visiting their worksites and making specific recommendations to help them continue to work safely and successfully. Maine farmers and farm workers with disabilities face many obstacles. In addition to the physical nature of farming the geographic isolation leads to decreased access to needed services and resources. The maine department of labor division of vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors are typically not familiar with the physical challenges of farm work and are not well equipped to make recommendations to resources or technology to accommodate agricultural workers.similarly many health and business professionals in maine are not familiar with specific assistive technology (at) or available disability resources. When faced with a disabling condition farmers need adaptive tools and access to resources if they are to remain safe productive and financially sustainable. Prior to 2010 most agricultural service providers were not familiar with agrability. They knew safety precautions were important and preventing injuries on the farm was critical but they were not equipped to recognize the wide range of disabilities they were seeing or to think in terms of providing help with farmers' personal health issues. Maine agrability is working to significantly increase the capacities of rehabilitation health and agricultural professionals to recognize the problem and understand how meaningful IT can be to effectively assist and accommodate farmers so they can keep farming. Maine agrability will continue to network with agriculture and health service providers across the state to increase and expandthe audience we reach. We will also foster our existing network increasing capacity for agrability work. We will continue educational outreach to VR personnel at partners agriculture service providers and farmers about disability issues facing farmers and to provide insight to farm culture. We will also work directly with farmers to assist in navigating resources exploring assistive technology ideas and to coordinate recommendations to help them succeed. The goals for this four-year project include:maine farmers with disabilities will receive information and guidance to help them farm successfully live independently improve their quality of life and enhance their economic viability. Guidance includes recommendations on adapting agricultural enterprises operations buildings equipment and tools.agriculture rehabilitation and health care professionals will integrate support for agrability into their work and enhance their knowledge and service capacity in supporting maine people with disabilities to live and work on farms.maine agrability will expand its capacity through networking activities and sharing information and resources with individuals and organizations.