By Jillian Ellison | Purdue University
WEST LAFAYETTE — The Agricultural and Biological Engineering AgrAbility Program at Purdue University has received $2,124,000 in funding for the National AgrAbility Project and $720,000 for the Indiana AgrAbility Project from the United States Department of Agriculture and National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Paul Jones, project manager for the National AgrAbility Project and education and resource specialist for the Indiana AgrAbility Project, said the funding supports the projects’ work through 2025. “Our team in ABE is thankful to receive both the Indiana AgrAbility grant and the National AgrAbility grant,” Jones said.
Purdue’s Breaking New Ground Resource Center will again be the lead agency for the grants.
“Having USDA/NIFA award both the National and the Indiana AgrAbility Project grants to Purdue in the same year is a strong indication that the staff behind these proposals is on the right track when it comes to the vision and work plan for AgrAbility that they have projected,” said Chuck Baldwin, Indiana AgrAbility project manager.
The National AgrAbility Project reaches out to farmers and ranchers who live with a disability or physical limitation, Jones said. The Indiana AgrAbility grant will work to deliver direct services to farmers, ranchers or other agricultural workers around the state in the form of direct on-farm assessments or working alongside other agencies to get specific technology into the hands of farmers who need it.
Stress-related impairments have become a more significant focus for AgrAbility. “Mental health is becoming an increasingly critical area,” Jones said. “We used to focus primarily on physical issues — disabilities, spinal cord injuries, amputations, arthritis and so on — but now there needs to be a greater focus on stress-related impairments.”
The National AgrAbility Project will work to support other state projects around the country and offer limited services to farmers in states without an AgrAbility project.