University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine AgrAbility were recently awarded an Extension Risk Management Education Grant to support their Boots-2-Bushels (B2B) program. B2B is a comprehensive nine-month market gardening education and training program for military veterans, their family members, and farmers with disabilities in Maine. The program includes ten weeks of subject matter instruction and six months of hands-on production. The B2B program uses the "Five Fs" framework (Farming, Family, Finances, Future, Fitness) to address production, marketing, financial, and human sources of agricultural risk, and creates a near-peer cohort that fosters unit cohesion in an empathetic, therapeutic environment. The 18-month ERME grant will provide support for hands-on field work at a demonstration farm in 2021 and 2022, intensive individual follow-up in both years, and instruction and fieldwork in 2022.
Be sure to join Maine AgrAbility March 23 at 1:00 p.m. EDT for the webinar, "Farming Smarter with Assistive Technology." This presentation will discuss the use of common assistive technologies within the farm setting. This webinar will focus on how AT can be expanded for use in a farm setting, enabling a farmer to work smarter. A variety of assistive technology will be presented, discussing potential impacts on a farmer's physical and mental health and on their farm business productivity.
Participants will learn:
Register here: MaineCite Trainings
Be sure to check out Maine AgrAbility's most recent news and blog posts:
Submitted by Lani Carlson