How the AgrAbility Program to Help Farmers with Disabilities Was Started at Purdue University
Farming has one of the highest disabling injury rates of any industry. That’s why there’s a program called AgrAbility that works with farmers who have become disabled to help get them back to work.
“This thing actually has grown way beyond whatever most Purdue people would’ve ever expected,” says Dr. Bill Field, Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering at Purdue University. He’s been with Purdue since 1977.
Dr. Field shared with Hoosier Ag Today how the idea for the AgrAbility program started back in 1979 after an Indiana farmer sought out his assistance.
“Bill Gundrum was a farmer from the Walton area in Cass County, Indiana. He was in a pickup truck accident, and it left him as a paraplegic with limited use of his hands,” says Field. “There was a question raised about how he could get back on his tractor. I was open at that point because I had a sensitivity to Mr. Gundrum’s situation. I grew up working for a dairy farmer who had polio and had limited mobility. He used all kinds of adaptations—including using me as a kid to ride with him to open and close gates.”
That’s when Dr. Field and his team used some creativity and went to work.
“We took a school bus lift off of a wrecked school bus and mounted it in-between the wheels on this four-wheel drive tractor,” says Field. “I still remember when we mounted it on his tractor up there in Walton, and he was able to get back onto the tractor and pull himself up into the seat. I went with him for the first drive across the field and I always remember watching him, and I could just see him sitting up in his seat with a renewed sense of purpose and pride. That really was a spark for me. Quite frankly, I felt God was telling me to do something in this arena.”
That moment in Cass County, Indiana soon led to the establishment of the Breaking New Ground (BNG) Resource Center at Purdue University.
In 1990, the National AgrAbility Project was established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture thanks to Congressional funding that was initiated in the Farm Bill.
The Breaking New Ground program then became known as the Indiana AgrAbility Project, which receives funding from USDA and is sponsored by Farm Credit Mid-America, as well as Purdue University, Easterseals Crossroads, Hoosier Uplands Economic Development Corporation, the Veterans’ Administration, and Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services.
In addition to Dr. Field, who serves as Indiana AgrAbility’s Project Director, other team members include:
- Chuck Baldwin, Project Manager
- Steve Swain, Rural Rehabilitation Specialist
- Paul Jones, Education and Resource Specialist
- Ed Sheldon, Extension Outreach and Evaluation Specialist
- Joe Ricker, Veteran Outreach Coordinator
- Denise Heath, Project Assistant
- Brian Norton & Lisa Becker, Easterseals Crossroads Team
- Steve Etheridge, Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant
Today, 13,600 farmers across the U.S. have been helped by the National AgrAbility program, which has State/Regional AgrAbility Projects in 21 states providing services in 22 states—plus, there are several unfunded affiliates serving other states through other funding sources.
In June, the AgrAbility Program, led by the National AgrAbility Project and housed at Purdue University’s Breaking New Ground Resource Center in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, is among those named in the first-ever Forbes Accessibility 100 list.
CLICK HERE to read Hoosier Ag Today’s feature story from 2023 on Ed Bell from Hagerstown, Indiana, who is farming today thanks to the Indiana AgrAbility Project / Breaking New Ground.
CLICK HERE for the Indiana AgrAbility Project / Breaking New Ground (BNG) Resource Center.
CLICK HERE for the National AgrAbility Project.
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