I’m sure a lot of people wonder why we decided to be create a farm.
It can be summed up with three numbers. 60, 80, and 3.
60
60 is the age of the average farmer in North America. That number has been rising for the last 15 years or more, and is slowly tapering off because farmers are retiring, and even dying out.
With the average farmer being 60, that means a lot of knowledge about how to farm and work is being lost. And seeing that everyone needs food, the loss of that knowledge could easily be considered catastrophic.
80
Up to 80% of adults with autism are unemployed according to some studies. Many won’t have any experience outside of their residence and thus live in near isolation. How can they have a meaningful and full life if they are isolated and do not feel they are a part of society?
3
Three is the number of children we have who are on the autism spectrum.
So for us, these numbers aren’t just numbers. They are part of our daily life and our concerns. And one of the things we’ve thought about over the years is how do we overcome the issues of loneliness in our children, and help them be productive members of society, especially if there are cuts to some or all of the social funding which helps provide for those who cannot provide for themselves.
We want for our kids to be able to provide for themselves with as little outside assistance as is possible.
And thus, Ability Farms was created. We are working on finding ways to allow adults with special needs to work to grow food, both for themselves, and for others.
We know that sometimes our farmers won’t be able to perform certain tasks, but in other cases, they can, and will thrive in the right environment. So we are working to identify the best tasks and tools for them to use to allow them to be successful.