The New Mexico AgrAbility Project will host the 2025 AgrAbility National Training Workshop March 24-27 in Las Cruces. The workshop combines health, manufacturing and educational professionals with disabled farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers from across the nation. The project is a partnership between New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service, New Mexico Technology Assistance Program, Mandy’s Farm and the University of New Mexico-Occupational Therapy Graduate Program.
“Hosting the AgrAbility National Training Workshop in Las Cruces, in addition to the exhibit at the Farm and Ranch Museum is certain to draw much public interest, and the New Mexico AgrAbility team is eager to help anybody with disabilities but curious to see how assistive technologies may be helpful to a maybe different but determinant return to farming,” said Julie LaJeunesse, New Mexico AgrAbility program manager.
The AgrAbility workshop is a four-day event that includes plenary sessions, breakouts, tours, networking and special events. The preconference and welcome reception will be held March 24 at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, and the two main conference days March 25-26 will be held at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. The final day, March 27 includes three post conference tours that include the Santa Teresa Cattle Border Crossing, White Sands National Park and Pistachioland, and the NMSU Chili Pepper Institute.
“During one of the tours, NMSU experts in remote sensing technologies will discuss and demonstrate novel technologies which can make ranching and farming more assessable for people with disabilities,” said Robert Hagevoort, professor and Extension dairy specialist at the NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Clovis. “As an example, GPS technology can indicate from a mobile device if cows are behaving normal or if an animal might need special attention. Drones could be deployed to see what is going on. Drones can also aid in remotely managing crops and crop conditions. All these technologies would permit a person to manage farming conditions from a chair or a desk.”
The workshop will feature keynote speaker Tiffany Sanchez, a New Mexico AgrAbility client who raises horses, livestock and greenhouse products with her family. She sustained a spinal cord injury when she was bucked from a horse and now uses a wheelchair and other assistive tools like an Action Trackchair and a Life Lyft truck lift to perform her farm jobs. Workshop breakout sessions include topics on agricultural Assistive Technology, rural preparedness, health, stress, and support for veteran and beginning farmers.
Additionally, in January, the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum opened the New Mexico AgrAbility exhibit. The AgrAbility exhibit tells the stories of AgrAbility clients who despite and in spite of their disabilities are able to be part of or return to farming and producing food. Part of the exhibit demonstrates how returning veterans interested in agriculture may find a niche in many ways similar to the service they are used to: mission driven, no hourly schedule and very technologically advanced.
For more information including conference registration and a detailed schedule, visit http://www.agrability.org/training-events/in-person/.
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CUTLINE: Tiffany Sanchez, seated, a New Mexico AgrAbility client, will be the keynote speaker at the 2025 AgrAbility National Training Workshop. She raises horses, livestock and greenhouse products with her husband, JJ, and their son, Clancy. (Photo by Anna Lisa Photography)