Indiana AgrAbility presented an exhibit at the 2016 Indiana-Illinois Farm and Outdoor Power Equipment Show in Indianapolis at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.  The exhibit was staffed by Indiana staff and consultants and presented AgrAbility services and publications including Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services brochures and Farm Service Agency publications.  In addition, beginning/veteran farmer resources were presented.   Included in the exhibit was a Life Essentials lift on a John Deere utility tractor with a loader and backhoe. 

The Purdue University Central Extension District presented a Beginning Farmer Workshop with an emphasis on taking care of your body and the coming Good Farming Practices regulations.  Indiana AgrAbility, as a partner in the Beginning Farmer Grant, staffed an exhibit with an emphasis on assistive technology for the small farm and garden and the ergonomics of easier and safer work in relation to small farms.  An extra handle attached to a scuffle hoe drew a lot of attention and provided a lead to the Tool Box Assistive Technology Database.

Professor Gary Krutz was recognized for 40 years of faithful service to Purdue. President Mitch Daniels presented him with a certificate at the December recognition, following his retirement from ABE in October. We already miss him!

Professor Al Heber taught a two-week course on Environmental Design of Agricultural Buildings to 63 students at Zhijang University, Hongzhou, China, from December 10 to 20, 2016.

ABE welcomes some new non-human members to the ABE family. We now have four 3-D printers running in ABE 102 under the direction of Dr. Bob Stwalley. He secured the funding and the printers for creating prototypes.

We also took delivery of a Yamaha Viking VI for the agBOT Challenge team. Dr. Tormoehlen leads that team and we look forward to their June competition!

Would you like to go to prison?  It is probably not on the list of a thousand things to do in your life. However, I have been in several Indiana prisons over one hundred times in the past ten years.

I am a member of a group of fellow Christians called the Kairos Prison Ministry (www.kairosprisonministry.org and www.kairosofindiana.org ).

I started out of curiosity as to how the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) goes about correcting the behavior of people sent to prison. There are over 25 prisons run by the Indiana DOC  and nearly 2% of the US population will be incarcerated sometime in their life. I currently serve in the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City and the Logansport Juvenile Correctional Facility.

Please contact Stan Harlow (harlow@purdue.edu) if you, too, are curious.

Congratulations to Student Soybean Innovation Team SoyFoliate, winners of the 2015-16 Competition who recently made the finals for Ag-Celerator funding!

Team SoyFoliate produced a novel, soy-based exfoliating product designed for integration into hand soaps, facial scrubs and body washes.  Team members are Sam Lewis, Steve Ferris and Alison Switzer (Purdue Doctor of Pharmacy Program), and Ryan Pendergast (Mechanical Engineering).

Another example of the wonderful opportunities available to Soy Competition Teams after the competition!