Project Coordinator Michele Proctor presented "Intro to NC AgrAbility" at the Future Farming Forum on January 20, 2015, in the James Sprunt Community College Monk Auditorium in Kenansville, NC. The session was a dialogue about future farming, outreach, and resources for limited resource farmers and veterans, and was sponsored by Custom Ag Solutions, NC A&T State University and the US Department of Agriculture RMA. Topics covered included risk management insurance and strategies, farming with disabilities, agricultural health and safety, benefits of community gardening, and more! Participating partners include Surge Media LLC, NC AgrAbility Partnership, NC Agromedicine Institute, USDA StrikeForce and James Sprunt Community College SBA. A recording of this session will be aired on the radio in the coming months.
"Intro to NC AgrAbility" was presented by Michele Proctor at "Bridging the Informational Resources Gap: Connecting Farmers and Veterans to USDA Programs," January 21-22, 2015, in Rocky Mount, NC. More than 200 individuals attended, including NC AgrAbility Project Director John Paul Owens, and were able to participate in two days of resource sharing. This event was an informational session designed to assist socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers and ranchers to improve their ability to start and maintain successful agricultural businesses, and was hosted by the L.C. Cooper Jr. International Trade Center, North Carolina A&T State University, Farmers Outreach Solutions, and USDA-NIFA Office of Advocacy and Outreach. Stay tuned to NC AgrAbility's Facebook and Twitter pages for photos from this event.
The 2015 NC Agricultural Medicine Core Course kicked off January 29-30, 2015, in Kannapolis, NC. The course was hosted by Robin Tutor-Marcom of the NC Agromedicine Institute, and Michele Proctor participated in discussion of behavioral roots of farm families, a farm perception on decision making and sources of farm accidents and other experience with injuries on the farm. The purpose of the "Core Course" is to provide participants with basic information and skills to recognize and work together to address and prevent occupational illness and injury in the farm environment, and it serves to prepare healthcare providers wishing to become recognized as AgriSafe providers. Partial registration is still available for the March session. For questions or to register, call the NC Agromedicine Institute at 252-744-1008.
Later that afternoon, NC AgrAbility and the NC Agromedicine Institute hosted Dr. Mike Rosmann, agricultural psychologist and Iowa farmer, for a session on tips for coping with everyday stressors associated with farm life and strategies for overcoming challenges of family farm relations, to address issues with behavioral health and wellness on the farm. The session, entitled "Family Farming: Strategies for Overcoming the Challenges of Family Farming Relations" was held in conjunction with the Agricultural Medicine Core Course Friday, January 30, 2015 from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. and was open to farm families and service providers working with farm families at the David Murdock Core Lab Building, NC Research Campus, in Kannapolis, NC.
Submitted by Michele Proctor