Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Farmers and ranchers with disabilities, vocational rehabilitation counselors, healthcare professionals, veterans and veteran organizations, Amish and Mennonite populations, Hispanic population, Hmong population, 4-H, FFA, Wisconsin farm-based operations. Changes/Problems:Within the reporting year we unfortunately lost our outreach specialist, Andrea Klahn, due to needing to spend time with family. We have since hired a new AgrAbility Program Coordinator, Michelle Bachand who started June, 2024. AAW is happy to have her on board and will continue our high levels of productivity with Michelle's help. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?AAW participated in the National AgrAbility Training Workshop in 2024. This event was attended by both PI's of the project. Jeff Kratochwill participated in several sessions where he presented and participated in a panel discussion. Another professional development training that AAW hosted was a "Day on the Farm" with our Wisconsin Department of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors and administrators. In November, 2023 we hosted four virtual training sessions covering dairy, beef, row crop, and small farm/CSA production systems. This was followed by an in-person training at the Marshfield Agricultural Research Station where we presented a case study of an AgrAbility client who received DVR services. Then we moved to the farm where counselors received hands-on training on operating ag machinery, UTV's, cattle handling, and milking operations. For the online training events we had 100 attendees per session and the in-person event had 50 attendees. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Several popular press articles, newsletters, and online videos were produced over the reporting period. These are listed in the "other products" section of this report. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?AAW will continue to maintain our direct service levels to meet the goals of the proposal. Our education and marketing objectives are on-track and we intend to maintain the effort there with newsletters, in-person trade show attendance, and social media presence. We are also working to change our Neighbor-to-Neighbor meeting format to work directly with equipment dealerships where their client base can be utilized to spread the word about AgrAbility services.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? AgrAbility of Wisconsin (AAW) currently has 349 active clients. During the reporting period, AAW had 30 new clients and 20 reopened clients which placed us at 53% or our goal of 75 new/reopened clients for the grant cycle. EasterSeals of Wisconsin performed 28 on-farm site assessments in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Eight of these on-farm site assessments are currently open and we exceeded our goal of 25 site assessments for the grant cycle. We have continued to meet our goals outlined in the AgrAbility proposal and continuation justification in 2023. We have attended multiple trade shows and events while maintaining a strong social media presence. We hosted our advisory council in November, 2023 where a status update was given to stakeholders. We hosted neighbor-to-neighbor meetings throughout the year where AgrAbility services were displayed and discussed with a regional reach. Finally, we have continued our work with disabled youth across the state providing agricultural career exploration experiences. A list of our events attended and workshops hosted is provided below: Trade show: World Dairy Expo October 1-6, 2023. Trade show: Farm Bureau Convention December 2-3, 2023. Trade show: Farmers Union Convention December 10-11, 2023. Trade show: Wisconsin Agribusiness Council Classic January 9-10, 2024. The AgrAbility Summit was completed on January 24, 2024 in partnership with the Wisconsin Farmer Veteran Coalition in Plover, WI at the Food and Farm Exploration Center. Presentation: Driftless Regional Beef Conference January 25-26, 2024 (150 attendees) Presentation: Eastern WI Regional Ag. Day February 29, 2024 (125 attendees) Jeff Kratochwill co-presented (along with Ned Stoller from Michigan AgrAbility) at the National AgrAbility Conference in Atlanta Georgia on March 26, 2024. The presentation title was "Creating Reliable Plans for DIY Assistive Technology". Jeff Kratochwill represented AAW on a panel discussion at the National AgrAbility Conference on March 27, 2024. The panel presentation was "Destigmatizing disability within the farming community". Trade show: WPS Farm Show April 23-25, 2024. Jeff Kratochwill co-presented with Dick Straub at the DVR Wisconsin Rehabilitation Counsel on May 9, 2024, in Plover, WI. Jeff Kratochwill co-presented (along with Paul Jones from NAP) at the National Symposium for Rehabilitation Counseling on May 22, 2024, in Madison. The presentation title was "Collaborations to Address the Needs of Agricultural Workers with Disabilities" AAW attended (trade show booth) at the Wisconsin FFA Convention Expo on June 12, 2024. Michelle Bachand presented an overview of AAW at a professional development field day for Extension Agriculture Educators (Western Region) on June 25, 2024.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Farmers and ranchers with disabilities, vocational rehabilitation counselors, healthcare professionals, veterans and veteran organizations, Amish and Mennonite populations, Hispanic population, Hmong population, 4-H, FFA, Wisconsin farm-based operations. Changes/Problems:Agriculture in Wisconsin continues to evolve, with an increased number of smaller dairy farms selling their herds and fewer young people going into farming. This creates a more limited group of prospective clients for AAW, as historically most of the clients served were dairy farmers. Since this project started, a significant number of farmers have retired and operations have consolidated to larger and fewer farms. An effort to increase awareness of the project and its services is underway for new farming audiences, which includes smaller market-garden and CSA type operations. While reception of AAW messages and services to this group has been positive, there has not been a significant increase in enrollments. Continued education and outreach will be needed for new sub-segments of the industry in order to sustain our project goals. Staffing is also a challenge for this project. The 2022-23 year began with a brand new Outreach Specialist, following a three-month vacancy. The 2023-24 will also experience staffing difficulties again, with the new Outreach Specialist leaving and potential retirements on the ESW staff side. This is also a great opportunity for the project to re-evaluate systems and roles and make changes to be more efficient moving forward. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?ESW staff provided a course to 19 youth with disabilities interested in a career in agriculture, teaching the students about the possibilities of careers in agriculture and coordinating tours of agricultural businesses. AAW provided one college graduate student with the opportunity to expand their marketing and communication skills by providing a summer internship, in collaboration with the UW's Agriculture Research Station's summer intern program. Students learned about strategies for marketing through digital media and trade show marketing, as well as interviewing and article writing skills. AAW and ESW continued our effort to increase awareness of the needs of farmers with disabilities with the Wisconsin Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) by attending quarterly DVR All Partners Work Group meetings. There was no formal training held by AAW in this grant year, however plans are underway to update online trainings for fall 2023 and host another in person training in spring 2024. Online training presentations from the previous grant year are still accessible on the AAW YouTube channel. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?AAW and ESW are participating in developing a survey with the Wisconsin Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) to gather information on why farmers are not completing the DVR process to receive funding to acquire assistive technology. This survey will be distributed and analyzed by Wisconsin DVR to inform and improve their interactions with farmers and hopefully regain trust in the agricultural community. AAW publishes an annual report of results, which is provided directly to key stakeholders on the Advisory Council and published on the AAW website for the public to view. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?AAW will continue to expand on the outreach efforts with continued and increased collaboration with supporters and other agriculture industry groups. Per the last reporting cycle, AAW made a slight change to the Neighbor-to-Neighbor meeting format and hosted one of these events at an equipment dealerships. The first annual FARM ON! farmer education event was held on January 6, at Carl F. Statz & Sons in Waunakee, Wis. A local farm broadcasting celebrity MC'd the event and our colleagues from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection presented as well. This partnership resulted in much wider outreach and larger attendance than a traditional on-farm event. In addition, AAW worked with a local grain elevator, Didon Grain LLC, and was invited to present at their farm safety event. Attendance was six times greater for this event than a traditional AAW Neighbor-to-Neighbor event, and going forward more of these opportunities should be utilized to maximize outreach for our project while also minimizing cost for the program.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? AgrAbility of Wisconsin (AAW) served 390 farm clients in the demographic year (September 1, 2022 - August 31, 2023). Of these clients, we had 53 new and re-opened, 69 closed clients, and 103 on-site farm visits completed by staff from our nonprofit partner Easterseals of Wisconsin (ESW). Outreach and education activities made up a large part of the effort for AAW. Over the year, AAW attended or hosted 1 events for audiences including occupational therapists, physical therapists, rehabilitation counselors, other rehabilitation professionals, occupational therapist assistant students, and high school agriculture students. In an effort to reach university students, Assistive Technology topic was a part of the curriculum in an introduction to freshmen level, introductory engineering design course in the Biological Systems Engineering (BSE) Department at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This topic involved designing a transfer seat for an Action Track Chair to allow disabled farmers to easily move from their wheelchairs to the seat of the Track chair. Approximately 7 students were involved in the design process and benefitted from interacting with AAW's Outreach Specialist on the topic. AAW attended the 2023 National Training workshop, held in Spokane, Wash., and presented a poster on the topic of engaging engineering students with the project, outlining the work done in these BSE undergraduate classes. A meeting of the AAW Advisory Council, representing the Wisconsin education, agricultural and health communities, was held to gather feedback and input for improving the education and assistance to farmers with disabilities. This meeting was held in person on November 3, at the University of Wisconsin's Agricultural Research Station Public Events Building in Arlington, Wis., and we had 16 Advisory Council members attend and 8 AAW staff. It was great to be in person once again, after years of virtual meetings, and there was very good interaction and input from the council members. Two related articles were published in one of the state agriculture papers outlining the efforts of AgrAbility and advertising our services to Wisconsin Farmers. The annual AgrAbility of Wisconsin Summit was held on April 6, 2023, at a new location, the Cranberry Creek Lodge in Tomah, Wis. The event focused on Veteran farmers and mental wellness, with 45 attendees from veteran agencies and other service group, in addition to the traditional audience of past and current clients and supporters. We had presentations for a full day. Topics included FSA program opportunities specifically to SDA farmers and Veterans, farm business planning, soil health, and farmer wellness. Lunch was provided for the farmers to allow for networking. AAW also attended 24 tradeshows, event presentations, outreach and educational activities both in-person and virtually reaching out to our target audiences.

Publications