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Organizations help to implement assistive technology

When Mike de Schaaf, the farm manager at Michigan State University’s Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center, heard about a worker whom a local grower recommended for a position at the farm, he didn’t have a chance to call the candidate before meeting him.

“Before I had a chance to call Cade back, he came through the door and said, ‘Hi, I’m here looking for a job,’” de Schaaf said. “I really appreciated his initiative to seek out this opportunity.”

As it turned out, Cade Krieger, who originally grew his passion for agriculture through the National FFA Organization, already had a connection at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center. He was enrolled in a prior Zoom class on vegetable production taught by Ben Phillips, a vegetable crops educator with Michigan State University-Extension who’s based at the center.

Phillips said, “When Cade began working at SWMREC, he said he was in my class, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ At that point, it had to have been about two years.”

Krieger uses a wheelchair, and as he prepared for his first day at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center, he was joined by Ned Stoller, an agricultural engineer and assistive technology specialist with AgrAbility.

Implemented in the 1990 Farm Bill and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, AgrAbility is a program whose mission is “to enhance the quality of life for farmers, ranchers and other agricultural workers with disabilities, so that they, their families and their communities continue to succeed in rural America.” The program consists of the National AgrAbility Project and State/Regional AgrAbility Projects, with Michigan State University leading Michigan’s project — one of 21 U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded State/Regional AgrAbility Projects.

Krieger and Stoller established a relationship before coming to the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center because Stoller developed assistive technology Krieger used for previous farm jobs. Collaborating with the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center team, they identified tasks Krieger could immediately contribute to at the Michigan State University AgBioResearch center using technology he already had.

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How women saved agricultural economics and other ideas for why diversity matters | Jill J. McCluskey

Video: How women saved agricultural economics and other ideas for why diversity matters | Jill J. McCluskey

Dr. Jill J. McCluskey, Regents Professor at Washington State University and Director of the School of Economic Science

Dr. McCluskey documents that women entered agricultural economics in significant numbers starting in the 1980s, and their ranks have increased over time. She argues that women have increased the relevance in the field of agricultural economics through their diverse interests, perspectives, and experiences. In their research, women have expanded the field's treatment of non-traditional topics such as food safety and nutrition and environmental and natural resource economics. In this sense, women saved the Agricultural Economics profession from a future as a specialty narrowly focused on agricultural production and markets. McCluskey will go on to discuss some of her own story and how it has shaped some of her thinking and research. She will present her research on dual-career couples in academia, promotional achievement of women in both Economics and Agricultural Economics, and work-life support programs.

The Daryl F. Kraft Lecture is arranged by the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, with the support of the Solomon Sinclair Farm Management Institute, and in cooperation with the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences.