Ohio

Ohio AgrAbility staff were recently reminded of how farmers benefit from AgrAbility services and how pieces of equipment, both simple and complex, impact productivity. Ohio farmers Steve and Julie McFalls attended the Farm Science Review in September and were effusive in their praise of the new equipment Steve had received from Ohio's vocational rehabilitation agency Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD). Steve and Julie farm specialty hay. Steve's disability makes it very difficult for him to work long hours or consecutive days, and the jolting and vibration of a tractor takes a toll on him. He has an Airhawk inflatable seat cushion that reduces the vibration and his pain. He uses the seat cushion on his padded tractor seats, and recently used the seat cushion while watching the tractor pull at the county fair. He gets great benefit from this simple piece of equipment. The complex equipment Steve uses are an accumagrapple and hay accumulator for baling hay. Julie stated that in the past, she would have to recruit people to help bale hay. Sometimes they could not get enough help, and they had to leave some hay in the field. This year Steve and Julie used the accumagrapple and were able to put up over 555 bales of hay by themselves in just one weekend. Steve reported that he did not have lingering pain and immobility from the work, and his grin lit up the whole exhibit area. Julie said if it was not for the new equipment, they would not have been able to continue farming. See the full video interview here.

Submitted by Laura Akgerman