FOOD & FARMING

VETERANS CAREER FAIR

March 5, 2010 * 9 AM – 4 PM

Veterans Memorial Building

1351 Maple Avenue, Santa Rosa

Event Coordinator: Linda Speel  -   linda (at) farmvetco.org

FOR DETAILS, CLICK HERE

n August, the Farmer-Veteran Coalition sponsored a “field trip” to a large organic vegetable farming operation in Baja, Mexico.

Vets visit an Ensenada, Mexico, tomato growhouse

Watch a slide show of the vets at school and play on the Baja coast.

Part of the reason our current food production process is in trouble is that, in the interest of corporate profit we’ve stopped paying attention to what’s good for the land that grows that food. Our practices of planting every available acre, using precious irrigation water as if there was a bottomless supply, fertilizing with petro-chemicals and allowing our topsoil to erode have been the non-sustainable. Eventually, the required resources are depleted and the land stops producing.

Our emphasis at FVC is on promoting sustainable farming practices. Most veterans returning from war and the military, we believe, are looking for something to do that has lasting meaning – that is sustainable and live-giving.

So we’re grateful to have agencies like the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, that provide beginning farmers and experienced agricultural producers with guidelines, lessons, tips and best practices for planning and managing sustainable farming operations.

Known as ATTRA (it’s original name was Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas), the Information Service is “managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service. It provides information and other technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, Extension agents, educators, and others involved in sustainable agriculture in the United States.”

We’ve blogged here on several occasions about the emergence of training programs for new farmers. Here, for example, in Lehigh County, PA. And here, in New England. Now there’s a program starting up in Wisconsin, at Stoney Acres Farm in Athens. WSAW reports on the program in a video here on their website.

“We teach them certain skills but we also teach them sort of record-keeping and financial planning and how to plan a farm and show them our spreadsheets and they’re part of the operation, which is a little bit different,” said Catrina Becker of Stoney Acres Farms.

Becker says her and her husband believe training new farmers is important for the future of agriculture.

She feels as people learn more about where their food comes from, that knowledge has the power to transform food systems and allow small farmers to stay in business.

As posted in the Philanthropy News Digest:

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The Pat Tillman Foundation has announced that the new Leadership Through Action – Tillman Military Scholars program is accepting applications.

The new Leadership Through Action initiative continues to support the mission of the foundation to carry forward Pat Tillman’s legacy of leadership and civic action by supporting future generations of leaders who embody the American tradition of citizen service.

Individuals eligible for the Leadership Through Action – Tillman Military Scholars program include veterans and active service members of both pre- and post-9/11 service; service members who wish to start, finish, or further their education; service members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Reserve); service members pursuing undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, two-year, four-year, public, private, vocational, and trade degrees or certifications; and dependants of service members (children and spouses).

The selection committee will review applications according to unmet financial need, educational and career ambitions, length of service, record of personal achievement, essay question responses, and demonstration of service to others in the community and a desire to continue such service. Please note that applications will be separated into two pools: service members and dependents.

Guidelines and applications are available at the Pat Tillman Foundation Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

A program to support veterans helping other veterans is getting close to reality in Washington, D.C.

Published in the Galesburg (IL) Register, this article came to our attention via VAwatchdog.org

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House Education and Labor Committee passed Rep. Phil Hare’s, D-Rock Island, legislation to create a Veterans’ Corps.

It was included as part of the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act.

The Veterans Engaged for Tomorrow Corps Act was coauthored by Hare and Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., his former colleague on the Education and Labor Committee.

It would establish an organization for veterans by veterans, similar to AmeriCorps or Senior Corps.

“President Obama has called for a renewed commitment to national service,” Hare said. “A Veterans’ Corps can be one of the great pillars in that effort.”“Vet Corps provides veterans an opportunity to continue their tremendous service to our nation,” said Sarbanes. “It will also help mitigate the disproportionately high levels of unemployment in the veteran population and provide tangible benefits for disabled or older veterans, as well as the greater community. It is only natural that veterans would be the first to answer President Obama’s call to community service. Vet Corps will allow them to participate in a meaningful way and help smooth their transition back to civilian life.

The primary mission of the Veterans’ Corps will be to recruit and mobilize veterans to serve the needs of their fellow servicemen and women.

It will collaborate with Veterans Service Organizations, Department of Veterans Affairs and other groups to provide education, job training and mentoring to veterans.

“No one understands the challenges facing our veterans better than those who have walked in the very same shoes,” Hare said.

The Veterans’ Corps will be overseen by the Corporation of National and Community Service.

It would be the first of its kind.

Founded 25 years ago to bring vocational training to people, including veterans, in the San Francisco Bay area, Inter-City Services has been ramping up its veteran training programs over the past couple of years. Speaking to a reporter from the Oakland Tribune, Executive Director Mansour Id-Deen revealed that the agency received, last December, $650,000 to train 144 people over the next two years. It has previously been given $500,000 to train 125 veterans.

At its location on 3269 Adeline St., Inter-City Services offers career counseling, office and computer training, computer repair, and GED preparation. If the applicant requires a different area of vocational training, he or she will be referred to another training institution with all fees paid.

All honorably discharged veterans, including those with disabilities, can find a home at Inter-City Services.

Inter-City Services has been receiving state funding for veteran training most years since 1998.

The most recent grant specified that 50 percent of the recipients should be recently separated veterans, that is, those coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq — soldiers like Stercks and Cooper.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble at all filling the 144 spots,” Id-Deen said.

On the other hand, Id-Deen observed that, just like Stercks and Cooper, it sometimes takes a while before veterans find the agency. Inter-City Services says its goal is to provide a seamless service from military to civilian employment.

A COMMUNITY SUMMIT ON THE MENTAL HEALTH & WELLNESS OF VETERANS & THEIR FAMILIES

Date: April 16, 2009 Time: 8am-4pm

The summit is a unique opportunity for California veterans, their families and care providers to critically examine existing networks of care for veterans. At the summit, training will be offered on Post Traumatic Stress, transition for combat to community, housing, employment issues and resources for newly separated veterans. The conference will examine mental health issues and their profound impacts on housing, employment, economic stability and social welfare of our state’s military personnel and veterans.

Agenda

Please click the following links for registration:

Attendee Registration Exhibitor Registration

Sponsor Registration

Programs for training new farmers are beginning to sprout up around the country. It would be great if each county would sponsor a program of its own to build local populations of farmers serving their areas.

In an effort to “to encourage a new generation to learn to make their living off the land,” Lehigh County, Pennsylvania is incubating a program that will team selected “fellows” with mentors with extensive agriculture experience.

Each fellow will be teamed with a mentor farmer and will participate in classroom as well as hands-on training at a county-owned farm that straddles Upper and Lower Milford townships. At the end of the first year of the three-year program, each farmer will be given the opportunity to run his or her own business.

Upon completion of the program, participants who choose to continue their small farm business in Lehigh County will be eligible to apply for a $10,000 Seed Farm expansion grant.

Six fellow will be chosen each year from a pool of applicants who need not have any prior farming experience. Classroom training and mentoring will be provided for both vegetable farming and poultry farming.

The Seed Farm is a 451-acre tract formerly owned by the Seem Family, purchased by the county in 1974. The 25-acre agricultural incubator site includes 10 acres for crops, two irrigation ponds, a site for a pole building, two greenhouses and a small parking area.

The program is sponsored by a number of organizations including the county, the state Department of Agriculture, Penn State University Cooperative Extension and the Wildlands Conservancy.

Startup costs for the three-year project are about $350,000 Cunningham said. The money comes from a combination of federal and state grants and private donations.

The San Francisco Zen Center is offering the following program, as described on its web site.

Finding the Path of the Warrior on the Journey Home:

A Retreat and Support Community for Returning Veterans

Sunday, March 1 – at Green Gulch
Sunday, April 5 – at City Center
Saturday, May 9 – at City Center
Sunday, June 14 – at Green Gulch

10 am – 5 pm
with Chris Fortin and Lee Klinger Lesser

This four-month group is designed to build a safe and welcoming community for returning veterans. It consists of four monthly one-day retreats, two at Green Gulch Farm (March 1 and June 14), and two at the City Center (April 5 and May 9). Activities will include: meditation and mindfulness practices to cultivate awareness and healing; writing as a practice to develop self-awareness and expression; gardening and farming to engage with the natural vitality of working with the land; weekly mindfulness and stress management practices to integrate skills being learned in the retreats; and weekly phone or e-mail contact with the leaders and other participants. The retreat is non-denominational and open to all veterans.

“In the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone.”—Rachel Naomi Remen

Fee: $10 per day, and the opportunity to offer a teaching donation if desired.
To register, contact Lee Klinger Lesser at leelesser@gmail.com or 415-307-6043.