AgriAbility program that keeps disabled farmers on the job among displays at Sunbelt Ag Expo

MOULTRIE — Thousands of visitors from close to home and as far away as other states descended on the former Spence Air Base near Moultrie on Tuesday for the first day of the Sunbelt Ag Expo as the three-day farm show kicked off its 45th year.

The Expo features the latest in farm technology, some of it working in the fields on its research farm.

The annual show also brings more than 1,000 exhibitors, covering everything from hunting and fishing to home economics on the sprawling grounds.

A long-time exhibitor on hand this year is one that makes it possible for farmers who are disabled or become disabled to continue doing the jobs they love.

The AgirAbility program operated through the University of Georgia, provides services and funding for things like off-road vehicles (think a wheelchair with bulldozer tracks made of rubber) to help disabled persons get around, lift trucks that can haul them in and out of a tractor and back into the truck and other aids.

“Those vehicles can really go off-road,” Mason Dean, AgriAbility’s service coordinator for south Georgia, said. “Water, mud, sand, whatever, where a regular chair wouldn’t get them. There are automatic gate operators, where they hit a button and you can go through the gate without having to get out on foot. This is just a small taste of it. There are all types of products out there.”

UGA partners with the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency and several private groups to provide services. The program is not limited to Georgia, as it operates in 22 states, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Some of the manufacturers of products that make it possible for disabled farmers to keep farming were on hand at the display area where AgriAbility was set up.

So far about 220 farmers in Georgia have been assisted, Dean said.

The 1991 Farm Bill passed by Congress included funding for a program to assist disabled farmers, and AgriAbility has been in operation since 2005.

Hand controls for tractors are manufactured at the university’s Tifton campus.

“It is not something you can just go out and buy,” Dean said.

Nearby, Michael Boucher was set up with the Action Trackchair models on display. Boucher isn’t just an employee with the company, he uses one of the chairs after losing part of both legs in an accident.

The company founder’s son was immobilized by an accident, which led to the invention of the prototype. The invention used some parts from a snowmobile, which is still located at the manufacturing facility in Marshall, Minn.

“They took a snowmobile and kind of Frankensteined a lot of parts, with an off-the-shelf wheelchair, and the icing on the cake was a boat seat from Tractor Supply,” Boucher said. “Over the years, it’s just pressed forward. We’ve listened to customers along the way and improved.”

Boucher is an avid hunter and said the Trackchair is rugged and dependable in all kinds of terrain, with one model capable of speeds up to seven miles per hour.

“A lot of people think they’re just for hunting and fishing, but it’s a lot more than that,” he said. “It’s a range from people who just want to go out in the yard with their family to farming.

“AgriAbility is a really cool program. They do a lot to get people back out and farming.”

The Expo continues Wednesday and Thursday.

Hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Thursday. Tickets are $10 at the gate, with children 10 and under admitted free with a parent. A multiday pass is $20.

For more information, visit https://sunbeltexpo.com/visitors/.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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