Florida AgrAbility Project (FAP) - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

FLORIDA AGRABILITY PROJECT (FAP)

Sponsoring Institution

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Status

ACTIVE

Funding Source

3D GRANT

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

1028765

Grant No.

2022-41590-38122

Cumulative Award Amt.

$551,280.00

Proposal No.

2022-02409

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Project Start Date

Jul 30, 2022

Project End Date

Jul 29, 2025

Grant Year

2024

Program Code

[LQ]- AgrAbility

Project Director
Gorucu, S.

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
G022 MCCARTY HALL
GAINESVILLE,FL 32611

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Currently, no services specifically targeted agricultural-specific disability programs for farmers and their families in Florida. The proposed Florida AgrAbility Project (FAP) is a partnership between the University of Florida and the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida (CILNCF). The main objective of the Florida AgrAbility Project is to assist farmers to overcome disabilities and health conditions to continue farming. The FAP will target individuals working in agricultural production with a disability, including mobility, cognition, or long-term health problems that impairs their ability to farming. Our target population includes farmers (new and beginning, aging, veteran, historically disadvantaged minority), farmworkers, and their family members across Florida. With Florida AgrAbility Project (FAP), we will support our target population with a disability to return to or remain in production agriculture. Extension agents, healthcare professionals, occupational rehabilitation personnel, 4-H students, and other organizations will be targeted to provide and improve AgrAbility services and to increase awareness. FAP will accomplish these goals by working through the following four core objectives: education, networking, direct assistance, and marketing. Our specific objectives are (1) Educating and disseminating educational and technical resources on disability to the general public, farmers, extension educators, health providers, and other agricultural professionals, (2) Collaborating with the partners, providers, volunteer groups, stakeholders to provide outreach and encourage sharing information about the available services or funds, (3) Providing on-site assessments and direct assistance to the farmers and their families with disabilities, and (4) Increasing awareness of FAP, informing stakeholders, and potential customers by marketing activities.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
803	7410	3030	100%

Knowledge Area
803 - Sociological and Technological Change Affecting Individuals, Families, and Communities;

Subject Of Investigation
7410 - General technology;

Field Of Science
3030 - Information and communication;

Keywords

Goals / Objectives
The main objective of the Florida AgrAbility Project is to assist farmers to overcome disabilities and health conditions to continue farming. The FAP will target individuals working in agricultural production with a disability, including mobility, cognition, or long-term health problems that impairs their ability to farming. Individuals (our target population) include farmers (new and beginning, aging, veteran, historically disadvantaged minority), farmworkers, and their family members across Florida. With Florida AgrAbility Project (FAP), we will support our target population with a disability to return to or remain in production agriculture. Extension agents, healthcare professionals, occupational rehabilitation personnel, 4-H students, and other organizations will be targeted to provide and improve AgrAbility services and to increase awareness. Our specific objectives include:1) Education: Educate and disseminate to the public, farmers, extension educators, health providers, and other agricultural professionals about the available educational and technical resources on disability and general farm work/work environment. The education program will include providing educational platforms, enhancing competencies to accommodate the disabilities of farmers, educating rural health professionals, rehabilitation, and health care professionals on available assistive technologies, and increasing staff competency through professional development. Educational activities for the farmers will also include proper worksite settings, and proper use of tools and equipment to prevent injuries. Education activities will be throughout the project years. Objective 1.1: Provide educational platforms to disseminate and outreach educational materials. Objective 1.2: Educate farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers to accommodate disabilities and how to prevent injuries. Objective 1.3: Educate stakeholders (rural health professionals, rehabilitation, health care professionals, extension agents, etc.) on AgrAbility and available assistive technology resources. Objective 1.4: Increase staff competency through engagement in professional development and educational opportunities2) Networking: Collaborate with the partners, providers, volunteer groups, and stakeholders to provide outreach and encourage sharing information about the available services or funds. Networking objectives include creating an AgrAbility network of collaborators with agricultural organizations state, and national projects, and vocational rehabilitation, assistive technology, and disability organizations to build and promote a diverse partnership networking. Objective 2.1: Collaborate with agricultural organizations to improve services for the FL AgrAbility customers. Objective 2.2: Collaborate and partner with National AgrAbility Project (NAP) and State and Regional AgrAbility Projects (SRAPS). Objective 2.3: Collaborate/partner with vocational rehabilitation, assistive technology, and disability organizations about support services for farmers3) Direct assistance: Provide on-site assessments and direct assistance to the farmers and their families with disabilities. Florida AgrAbility Project will provide direct assistance services for individuals with a disability in production agriculture (including small, new/beginning, socially disadvantaged minority, and veteran farmers/farmworkers and their families. In the first project year, we will conduct some need analysis surveys with the small farmers, and socially disadvantaged special population farmworkers to identify individuals with disabilities in agriculture. We will provide on-site farm assessments and referrals to resources. Our projection is to assist at least one client in the first year of the project. We are targeting 10-15, 15-20, and 20-25 clients for direct assistance in year 2 through year 4, respectively. Objective 3.1: Identify individuals with disabilities in production agriculture. Objective 3.2: Provide direct assistance to farmers and their families with disabilities. Objective 3.3: Work in collaboration with disability and health care service providers to explore potential services provided to customers and farm families & partner with various organizations for financial assistance.4) Marketing: Increase awareness of FAP, and inform stakeholders and potential customers by using social media, IFAS Extension channels, Statewide TV/News agencies, state agricultural fairs, FFA and 4H events, etc. Marketing activities aim to create awareness and advocacy of the Florida AgrAbility Project for the public and are linked to networking activities. We will use traditional and digital media means. Success stories from the other SRAPs will be shared for training, marketing, and educational purposes. We will present at statewide commodity events to create awareness of AgrAbility services, and these marketing activities consequently will increase the number of potential clients for direct assistance. Objective 4.1: Create digital marketing efforts to increase awareness of Florida AgrAbility to target audiences and the general public. Objective 4.2: Increase awareness of FAP, and inform stakeholders and potential customers by using social media, IFAS Extension channels, Statewide TV/News agencies, state agricultural fairs, FFA and 4H events, etc. Objective 4.3: Develop communication and media relations to raise awareness of services and support available from AgrAbility.

Project Methods
The project logic model is the foundation for the evaluation process, specifically identifying the outcomes and indicators to be tracked throughout the project. The logic model will be seen as a flexible learning tool that will be used to provide feedback to project staff and appropriate modifications will be made to the logic model as the project evolves in response to clientele needs over time.In the first project year, one of the most important planning and evaluation activities will be the systematic needs assessment to be conducted with possible clientele as well as organizations and professionals who would like to be engaged in this work. The needs assessment will consist of systematic surveys as well as focus groups and dialogues with key stakeholders. The primary questions will revolve around: strategies for reaching clientele; information needs and gaps; barriers to participation and corresponding solutions; identification of key resources and assets that can inform project development; and the identification of key individuals and organizations that should be engaged in the process. These needs assessment processes will be used to expand the network of engaged individuals and organizations and to inform project development in all major areas.For the education objectives, the monitoring and evaluation process will focus primarily on the measurement of project reach and individual growth, including knowledge gain and changes to attitudes, confidence, and skills related to disability issues in farming populations. Methods will include pre-test/post-test, post-then-pre, and post-test only as appropriate. For the networking objectives, the evaluation process will focus on the ways in which the project's connections to and relationships with clientele, partner communities, and partner organizations are strengthened and expanded over time. Numbers of engaged individuals and organizations will be tracked, as well as the level of commitment to project partnerships and activities. For the direct assistance objectives, individuals targeted with assistance will be asked to provide feedback on their satisfaction and the extent to which the project helped achieve their goals relative to accessible farming. We will also ask these individuals to provide feedback on the strengths of current approaches, as well as suggestions for strengthening these approaches for the future. For the marketing objectives, the primary evaluation focus will be on tracking the number of people reached through the project's marketing activities. This will include tracking website hits and social media metrics, as well as numbers of people reached through webinars and in-person training and awareness events.We will also conduct an annual survey of project partners focused on project implementation issues, including communication, clarity of roles, efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness to change. This survey will be used to inform ongoing project refinements. The evaluation leadership will collect and report clientele demographic data and will facilitate efforts to participate in the national efforts for the Quality of Life survey.

Progress 07/30/23 to 07/29/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Florida AgrAbility targets rural communities and agricultural serving agencies, including farmers, farm workers, US Department of Veteran Affairs, Center of Innovation on Disability & Rehab Research (CINDRR), Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology, Department of Education - Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), Able Trust, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Veterans Florida, UF/IFAS, UF College of Medicine, Florida Independent Living Council, Florida Farm Bureau Federation, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology - FAAST, Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation & Robotics Technologies, Farmworker Association of Florida Efforts include one-on-one educational and assistive technology assistance, outreach educational presentations to introduce AgrAbility project. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Florida AgrAbility team members organized three webinars and gave seven presentations during the reporting period. The webinars and presentations were attended by more than 826 participants. The team attended agricultural fairs, other disability-focused events, and expos visited by at least 2,500 visitors. Additionally, team members have attended many virtual workshops hosted by NAP. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information, materials, and webinars are posted to the Florida AgrAbility website and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram social media platforms and promoted through the University of Florida network of Extension services, Center for Independent Living, and our partners.A YouTube channel was created to disseminate our materials. We also disseminate our work via conference presentations, social media, and displays. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we are planning to provide direct assistance to at least 15 to 20 farmers. The project advisory board meeting will be held in October for the second time. As indicated in our Logic Model, we will continue to use it to guide our efforts around our goals and objectives.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1) Education: Objective 1.1: FAP website has been used as the main educational platform to disseminate and outreach educational resources. Objective 1.2: FAP trained beekeepers in Accessible Beekeeping and demonstrated a range of assistive technology that would be helpful in accessible apiaries. We hosted a webinar focused on Accessible Beekeeping. The content of the webinar focused largely on accessible beekeeping tools and opportunities along with a portion on the purpose of FAP. Objective 1.3: FAP team hosted a webinar to network with Centers for Independent Living Centers across Florida to educate directors about how they can collaborate with the AgrAbility program to best serve our farmers with disabilities. FAP is a great resource for Florida Centers for Independent Living (CIL) to aid in connection with rural counties within the state. CIL directors and employees learned how to partner with FAP to provide wrap-around services to new or existing clients. FAP staff discussed what the organization stands for and how to connect with rural communities in the state of Florida as referenced in the State Plan for Independent Living. Objective 1.4: Our staff attended the 2024 AgrAbility National Training Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia. This event allows AgrAbility staff to network with other professionals and farmers nationwide to explore new resource opportunities, advanced technologies, and training on various topics to support staff growth and education. The FAP staff attended a 6-week training course presented by the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (RESNA) to prepare attendees to take the Assistive Technology Professional certification exam. The staff also attended the 2024 Governor's Hurricane Conference to network with emergency management professionals and learn about proactive measures to help farmers with disabilities prepare for the upcoming hurricane season. 2. Networking: Objective 2.1: We held our first FAP Advisory Board and it was well attended by board members and team members. This meeting was an opportunity for those in the disability and agricultural communities to come together and discuss how FAP can be integrated into the conversation of assistance and education. Throughout the meeting, the board had the opportunity to introduce themselves and make networking connections within the industry and community. FAP team reviewed the work done to that point and expressed their goals for the future. Each advisory board member had a unique take and perspective on how Florida AgrAbility should move forward. They all agreed FAP could be useful and successful in the state and all helped of some form. Suggestions included connecting with the Florida Department of Corrections, providing standard occupational codes to VR counselors when working together, attending Disability Awareness Day in Tallahassee, and ensuring sustainability of the program through connection, and partnerships with various other entities. The board plans to meet again in the Fall of 2024. FAP started partnering with the UF/IFAS Honeybee Research and Extension Lab personnel to integrate accessible beekeeping into their longstanding Bee College event occurring twice a year. FAP team connected with Work Ready Florida - Work Ready Florida is a grant-funded program for any Florida teenager in which Florida teenagers are invited to participate in a virtual 4-H club where they will prepare for Agriculture Education Services & Technology, Inc. (AEST). Objective 2.2: FAP Case Coordinator was selected to attend the RESNA ATP Fundamentals Course offered by the NAP. The course prepares attendees to take the Assistive Technology Professional certification exam. We submited demographic information to the National AgrAbility Project to ensure accurate program data. Four AgrAbility staff members and one advisory board members attended the AgrAbility National Training Workshop and presented/participated in three presentations. The case coordinator joined National AgrAbility staff at the National Amputee Coalition conference to network and help promote all SRAPS. Our outreach coordinator joined the NAP staff during the 2024 American Occupational Therapy Association Conference. We initiated a networking effort and introduced researchers from the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture Center to the NAP. This effort resulted in a one hour listening session to help understand the needs of growers/farmers with disabilities and those of Extension, AgrAbility, and other support organizations in facilitating the adoption of internet-enabled precision agricultural technologies. Objective 2.3: Partnering with Florida Independent Living Council (FILC), FILC submitted information on FAP to the Administration for Community Living for the July national Newsletter. Working with the FILC, FAP was added to the State Plan for Independent Living for the 2025-2027 fiscal years. FAP was listed among the lead organizations in the new plan. The plan emphasizes the rural communities and underserved populations. FAP's connection to farmers through the UF/IFAS Extension will play a key role in reaching out to several farmers with disabilities. 3. Direct assistance: Objective 3.1: The FAP clients initiated the requests through the website, phone calls, texts, through UF/IFAS extension, and the NAP. Objective 3.2: In the second year of the program, we served 15 clients. Five received assistive technology.FAP helped eight farmers affected by Hurricane Ian to receive financial assistance through the Hurricane Ian Relief project. We provided four farmers educational/funding resources, equipment loans, recommendations, and assistance with developing a new operation. Some of our clients have received more than one type of assistance. FAP collaborated with the Center for Independent Living (CIL) of Broward/Gulf Coast to identify farmers with disabilities who suffered devastating losses due to Category 5 Hurricane Ian. A large sum of funds was committed to assist farmers with infrastructure repair, financial loss, reimbursements for losses, and other miscellaneous damages that occurred on the farms due to the storm. FAP created outreach materials, posted on social media platforms, and networked with the University of Florida to send information to UF/IFAS extension agents to identify farmers who qualify for assistance. Currently, eight farmers have received financial assistance through this initiative, totaling $90,000 thus far. These farmers grow citrus, other fruits, and vegetables and are vital to the sustainability of Florida's economic industry. With this funding, more than 5,000 citrus trees and 13,000 fruit plants have been replanted. This initiative alone has restored roughly 1 million citrus fruits to Florida's agriculture economy. 4. Marketing: Objective 4.1: We added additional webpages to the current FAP website including resources for beginning and veteran farmers, funding resources, agricultural certifications.FAP website has been viewed more than 3,500 times during FY23-24. Objective 4.2: We attended many state-level agricultural events, and disability-related information, training, and networking events to increase awareness of disability in agriculture and inform stakeholders and potential customers about Florida AgrAbility and our services. During these events, we reached out to more than 2,500 individuals. FAP staff met state legislators and educated them about FAP. Objective 4.3: We developed and shared communication materials in both digital and printed formats to serve a wide range of target audiences. We created a YouTube channel to promote AgrAbility and share educational videos. We created more than 100 social media visuals to educate and inform our clients on available educational, financial, and assistive technologies.

Publications

Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Spero, V., Gorucu, S., and Delisle, T., (2024). Are you Disability Aware? 2024 Extension Leadership Conference. Feb 14-15, 2024, Tampa, FL.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Spero, V., Gorucu, S., Delisle, T., Diehl, D. (2024). Best Practices for Working with People Disabilities in the Agricultural Sectors. AIAEE 2024 Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education Conference. April 22-26, 2024, Orlando, Florida.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Head, L., Gorucu, S., Delisle, T., Diehl, D., Spero, V., Thomas, S., and Lewis, M. (2024). Florida AgrAbility: Farmfield to Coastline. 2024 AgrAbility National Training Workshop. March 25-28, 2024. Atlanta, GA.
Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Delisle, T., Head, L., Jarman, R., Kratochwill, J., and Mixon J. (2024). How Do We Get There from Here? Destigmatizing Disability Within the Farming Community (Panel Discussion). 2024 AgrAbility National Training Workshop. March 25-28, 2024. Atlanta, GA.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Spero, V., Gorucu, S., and Delisle, T., (2024). Pathways to Careers? 26th AnnuaFamily Caf�, June 14-16, 2024, Orlando, FL.

Progress 07/30/22 to 07/29/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Florida AgrAbility targets rural communities and agricultural serving agencies, including farmers, farm workers, US Department of Veteran Affairs, Center of Innovation on Disability & Rehab Research (CINDRR), Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology, Department of Education - Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), Able Trust, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Veterans Florida, UF/IFAS, UF College of Medicine, Florida Independent Living Council, Florida Farm Bureau Federation, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology - FAAST, Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation & Robotics Technologies, Farmworker Association of Florida. Efforts include one-on-one educational and assistive technology assistance, outreach educational presentations to introduce AgrAbility project. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Florida AgrAbility team members have organized two webinars. The first one was to introduce Florida AgrAbility to the University of Florida Extension agents. The second webinar was on the culture of disability, tips to communicate with people with disabilities, and laws and regulations. These webinars were attended by 40 participants. The team also provided eight introductory overview presentations attended by more than 350 participants. The team attended agricultural fairs, other disability-focused events, and expos visited by at least 1,500 visitors. Additionally, team members have attended many virtual workshops hosted by NAP. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information, materials, and webinars are posted to the Florida AgrAbility website and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram social media platforms and promoted through the University of Florida network of Extension services, Center for Independent Living, and our partners. Additionally, printed brochures and promotional materials were disseminated through the outreach events. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we are planning to provide direct assistance to at least 10 to 15 farmers. The project advisory board meeting will be held in October. We are planning to provide educational workshops for vocational rehabilitation counselors and farmers for the performance period.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Education: Objective 1.1: Provided educational platforms to disseminate and outreach educational materials. Launched the Florida AgrAbility website, created/managed social media. In January 2023, a needs assessment survey was circulated to UF/IFAS Extension personnel to gauge their knowledge and interest related to a variety of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) topics. Eighty Extension professionals responded to the survey. Objective 1.2: Educate farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers to accommodate disabilities and how to prevent injuries. Objective 1.3: Educate stakeholders (rural health professionals, rehabilitation, health care professionals, extension agents, etc.) on AgrAbility and available assistive technology resources. Organized introductory seminars to introduce and overview of the Florida AgrAbility project offered to Extension Professionals, Florida Rehabilitation Council members, County School Districts, etc. Objective 1.4: Increase staff competency through engagement in professional development and educational opportunities. Our staff attended a regional AgrAbility Regional Training Workshop which was held in Reno, Nevada, and 2023 AgrAbility National Training Workshop. The staff Case Coordinator attended a training hosted by the University of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension lab. This training focused on educating attendees about implementing practical beekeeping procedures through class lectures and hands-on components.The skills and experience gained duringthis training will provide staff with the knowledge needed to assist farmers interested in adapting accessible beekeeping methods. Networking: Objective 2.1: Collaborate with agricultural organizations to improve services for the FL AgrAbility customers. We started collaborating with the 4-H, UF/IFAS Extension, and other agricultural organizations. We created protocols and established an advisory board. In February, Florida AgrAbility held its first meeting with the program's key partners. This meeting allowed all partners to meet and educate each other about their program as well as their role in connecting with Florida AgrAbility. The FL AgrAbility Project team presented a presentation that provided their partners with a deeper understanding of AgrAbility and its role in serving farmers, current client load, future goals, and how they hope and intend to work with all partners. Objective 2.2: Collaborate and partner with National AgrAbility Project (NAP) and State and Regional AgrAbility Projects (SRAPS). We met the Georgia AgrAbility team and adapted their project management platform for the Florida AgrAbility client management. We are submitting demographic information to the National AgrAbility. Two Florida AgrAbility staff have attended the National AgrAbilityTraining Workshop. Objective 2.3: Collaborate/partner with vocational rehabilitation, assistive technology, and disability organizations about support services for farmers. We started to work with Vocational Rehabilitation. We delivered AgrAbility flyers to assistive technology service providers. The staff attended the Annual Emergency Preparedness Expo and shared outreach materials. Florida AgrAbility Evaluation efforts progressed in the form of receiving approval to move forward with conducting key informant interviews with other states' AgrAbility programs. Direct assistance: Provided on-site assessments and direct assistance to farmers and their families with disabilities. Objective 3.1: Identify individuals with disabilities in production agriculture. The FAP clients initiated the requests through the website, phone calls, texts, and through the NAP. Objective 3.2: In the first year of the program, we received 10 inquiries. The program provided direct assistance to five farmers and three of our clients have received assistive technology. Currently, we have six active clients. We made 25-30 phone calls to current clients 25-30: These phone call conversations consisted of introductory meetings, farm-site scheduling, information on operations and disabilities, information on assistive technology, funding and educational resources. The program also communicated with the clients through e-mails (30-40 times) and text messages (20-30 times). Similarly, the e-mails were on general AgrAbility information, farm-site scheduling, information on operations and disabilities, information on assistive technology, funding and educational resources. Text messages were often used for direction assistance to farm, specific measurements of equipment, and update on equipment orders.Objective 3.3: Florida AgrAbility started working with the Florida Vocational Rehabilitation to initiate a referral process and a contract to better assist our clients. Marketing: Objective 4.1: We created digital marketing materials to increase awareness of Florida AgrAbility to target audiences and the general public. AgrAbility website and social media platforms were created. Florida AgrAbility website was visited 1,374 times by more than 1,000 visitors since November 2022. Objective 4.2: We are attending state agricultural events, and disability-related information, training, and networking events to increase awareness of disability in agriculture and inform stakeholders and potential customers about Florida AgrAbility and our services. The Florida AgrAbility staff attended two events at the state capitol to educate and inform the state legislators about Florida AgrAbility. Objective 4.3: We developed and shared communication materials in both digital and printed format to serve a wide range of target audiences. We created a promotional video to promote AgrAbility and raise funds to help our clients with their assistive technology purchases.

Publications