On today’s show, we’ll meet Ron Burlson and his wife Suzy, and hear the amazing story of rehabilitation engineering assistive technology and rehabilitation counseling as we get Ron back on his tractor and on to the challenges of farming in 2015 as a farmer with a disability

Transcribed by Cameron Payne Scott

May 27, 2015

Welcome to the VR Workforce Studio: inspiration, education and affirmation at work!  Stories about individuals with disabilities, the champions of business and industry who hire individuals with disabilities, and the vocational rehabilitation professionals who have dedicated their lives and careers to helping individuals with disabilities go to work so they can lead more productive lives, build our workforce, and move our economy forward.

On today’s show, we’ll meet Ron Burlson and his wife Suzy, and hear the amazing story of rehabilitation engineering assistive technology and rehabilitation counseling as we get Ron back on his tractor and on to the challenges of farming in 2015 as a farmer with a disability.

Agriculture is Virginia’s largest industry by far.  Nothing else even comes close.  The industry has an economic impact of $52 billion annually, provides nearly 311,000 jobs across the Commonwealth.  So here is a fun fact for you: Virginia has nearly 46,000 farms.  Driving to work today, I saw that bumper sticker: “No Farms, No Food.” This show will bring that into a clear focus for you.

Here’s also a statistic that might surprise you.  Just stop for a minute, ask yourself “How old do you think the average Virginia farmer is”?  The average age of a farmer in Virginia: 59 ½ years old, with just over a third of Virginia’s farmers at 65 years or older.  So farms cover 8.3 million acres or approximately a third of the total land area in Virginia.  That is about 25.3 million acres.  So as we look at farming and farmers, the project number of farmers with disabilities is a little harder to estimate.  We got some information from Bob Grisso at AgrAbility.  He said that around 10% probably have disabilities.  So, we have an aging farmer workforce, working in adverse and oftentimes dangerous conditions. So disabilities among farmers is something you are going to hear about.  Our state VR agency, the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, Woodrow Wilson, and many of our agency partners are all in the game to help farmers who happen to have a disability overcome the obstacles to farming and get them back into the life they love, producing the food we love to eat here in Virginia.

So up next, you’ll hear one of these stories, how assistive technology, rehabilitation engineering, vocational rehabilitation, and, I think the most important ingredient, that fierce determination and commitment from one Virginia farmer that made a winning combination that helped Ron (Burlson) get back on the tractor, out in the field, and ready to take on the challenges of farming in 2015 and beyond.

In the studio today, Ron and Suzy Burlson.  Tell us where your farm is and how you make a living farming?

BURLSON (RON):  We’re in Orange County.  Were in a little town that isn’t even a town; it’s just a wide spot in the road called Unionville.  We keep some beef cows and our main livelihood is our greenhouses.  We grow annuals for southern states, little Mom ‘N’ Pop stores, and that kind of thing.  We deal with a lot of little nurseries and that kind of thing.  And that is where our livelihood comes from.  The cows are better.  In the last couple of years, the price of cattle has been real good.  But up until now, they haven’t been all that great.  It is just something that I like to do.

What kind of cows?

BURLSON (RON):  A little bit of everything.  But I primarily use Angus bulls.  But most of my cows that are Angus are Simmental-cross.

Ron, someone said that farming is a dangerous occupation.

BURLSON (RON):  That’s what got me into trouble