January's weather played havoc with a few events, but Kentucky AgrAbility managed to see many of their clients and get the ball rolling with their partners at KY Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. The end of January was the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference and Workshop in downtown Lexington, KY. The SSAWG Workshop allowed KY AgrAbility to talk to people from many different states and explain the AgrAbility goals.
In February, Kentucky AgrAbility was once again at the National Farm Machinery Show at the KY Expo Center in Louisville, KY. This was the 51st annual event and, as always, was an experience. Everything from crafts and small lawn tractors to the huge harvesters and sprayers was available along with some interesting presentations in the South Wing Lobby. Staff saw a lot of old friends of AgrAbility and made some new contacts. All of KY AgrAbility's partners participated in the four-day event helping pass out information and answer questions. Approximately 350,000 were in attendance with over 850 exhibitors. Staff even found some new items to help their clients.
March started out with the first veteran farmer conference being held for veterans in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia, on March 5th. These workshops had sessions for small and minority beginning farmers and farmers with disabilities. Mike Lewis with KY's Growing Warrior Project coordinated this event with several more to follow in Springfield, KY, at Saint Catherine College, and in Louisville, KY.
Submitted by Linda Bokros