Farmer veteran to speak at 2024 AgrAbility National Training Workshop

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The National AgrAbility Project (NAP), headquartered at Purdue University, invites farmers, ranchers and agriculture professionals to the 2024 AgrAbility National Training Workshop in Atlanta, Georgia, to address issues of disability in agriculture.

“Veterans represent a significant percentage of AgrAbility clients,” said Paul Jones, project manager of NAP. “This year’s keynote speaker is Mike Reynolds, a Georgia AgrAbility client who successfully transitioned from the military to farming and founded Hero Agriculture, a nonprofit that helps other veterans find their ‘next mission’ in agriculture.”

Deployed to Iraq as a medic in 2009, Reynolds ran the Emergency Response Center at Joint Base Balad. After being wounded in action and sustaining a traumatic brain injury, he was medically discharged from the military and eventually discovered farming as a form of therapy. His organization helps veterans in similar circumstances.

Conference breakout sessions will cover topics such as farm stress, assistive agriculture technology, and support for veteran and beginning farmers. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Shepherd Center, a world-renowned rehabilitation facility; a Kubota Manufacturing plant; a mushroom farm; a sheep farm run by an AgrAbility client who has a spinal cord injury; and a textile factory.

The conference will take place March 25-28 at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead. Early bird pricing ends Feb. 23, with conference registration ending March 18. The complete conference schedule, pricing details and hotel information are available online.

Traditionally known for helping those with physical disabilities gain access to assistive technologies, AgrAbility continues to evolve to meet the needs of underserved populations such as veterans and caregivers. Connect with AgrAbility on social media to learn the latest about assistive technologies, resources, safety tips, information, and more.

• Facebook: @National AgrAbility Project
• X (formerly known as Twitter): @NatlAgrAbility

First authorized in the 1990 Farm Bill (with funding appropriations beginning in 1991), AgrAbility is a grant-funded program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Each project must involve a collaboration between a land-grant university and at least one nonprofit disability services organization.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Writer/Media contact: Ashvini Malshe, 765-496-7480, malshea@purdue.edu

Source: Paul Jones, 765-494-1221, jonesp@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu

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