A Maine non-profit partnership between Cooperative Extension, Goodwill, and Alpha One, which assists farmers with disabilities, has received a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Maine AgrAbility Project provides no-cost aid to those facing physical challenges in an industry that requires an "able body."
"Be it age or vision or hearing, mobility, there's a lot of simple fixes - low cost fixes - to help people keep working," says program coordinator Lani Carlson.
Carlson says Maine AgrAbility provides assessments, advice, and aid to farmers - as well as workers in forestry and fishing - where a simple injury or arthritis can mean lost productivity, or even retiring from the business altogether.
"Agriculture is so important," Carlson says, "and it's important that we keep our farmers working, both for our communities and economy, but for their own livelihood."
Carlson says, under the program, experts will go to a farm to assess the obstacles facing a farmer with chronic health challenges or a disability, and then help find a solution so the farmer can keep working. According to labor statistics, the average age of a farmer in the U.S. is 57, and farming is the seventh most-dangerous job in country.
