What We Do
MISSION
The mission of the Farmer-Veteran Coalition (FVC) is to mobilize our food and farming community to create healthy and viable futures for America’s veterans by enlisting their help in building our green economy, rebuilding our rural communities, and securing a safe and healthy food supply for all. The coalition seeks to simultaneously assist the farming community by developing a new generation of farmers and to help our returning veterans find viable careers and means to heal on America’s farms.
The Farmer-Veteran Coalition (FVC) was founded by farmers and food industry leaders with long histories in overcoming the agricultural, managerial, financial, and marketing obstacles to be successful in their work. The goal of our work is to share our experiences with recent military veterans and to assist them in using their many relevant skills to create a new generation of innovative, ecological, and financially successful young farmers. Our program has the ability to help veterans reduce risk and become successful farmers by utilizing the many specific and unique resources available to help military veterans starting businesses, buying land, or overcoming disabilities
RATIONALE
The catalyst behind the formation of the Farmer-Veteran Coalition has been the observation of two merging powerful forces over recent years: first, an aging farming community in critical need of young farmers; and second, the high unemployment rates and lack of viable career opportunities among American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly those returning home in greatly disproportionate numbers to our small towns and rural communities. It is at this intersection of socioeconomic needs that FVC is uniquely qualified to help. America’s agricultural community needs our veterans as much as they need us.
America’s farms are facing a crisis for lack of young able-bodied individuals going into agriculture. The 2007 Census of Agriculture reveal that the average American farmer is 57 years old, up from 55 in the last Census, with two farmers retiring for every one entering the field. This staggering figure, with the increasing interest in creating more sustainable and local food systems, has created unique and exciting opportunities for beginning farmers.
At the same time, a recent study by the Carsey Institute, a think tank at the University of New Hampshire, exerts that “Only 24 percent of employed young adults, ages 18 to 24, hold full-time jobs in rural communities. Traditional rural employment in farming, logging, mining, fishing and small manufacturing have been declining for many years.[1]”
Yochi J. Dreazon reported in the Wall Street Journal on March 25, 2008 on a new government report that “paints a dire picture of the employment prospects of returning military veterans, concluding that young veterans earn less and have a harder time finding work than do civilians in the same age group[2].”
Paul Reickoff, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghan Veterans of America, said in 2007 that veterans returning to rural communities were having the hardest time reintegrating into civilian life as these communities lacked both viable employment opportunities and access to needed veteran services.
Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture also articulated the link between veterans and agriculture:
“Rural America makes us 1/6 of the population of the United States; those who serve us in uniform, 45% come from rural communities. Why is that? In part because of the value system that rural America represents.” February 18, 2010
The urgency for America’s need for young people going to agriculture will not be alleviated without tapping into the rural based population of the two million men and women who have left the military over the last decade. The Farmer-Veteran Coalition aspires to reach .5% of all veterans (10,000) that have left the service in the past decade, and either introduces them to the range of opportunities in the agricultural industry, or educates, supports and advances them if they have already chosen our field.
WHO WE SERVE
The individuals that FVC seeks to provide service to fall into one or more of the following categories:
- Veterans, with or without previous farming history, who are pursuing farming, seeking mentorship, and developing support networks.
- Veterans who are pursuing education in agriculture at 2 or 4 year institutions, with help from their GI bills.
- Veterans who are looking for work in agriculture to support themselves and their families and gain experience and knowledge before starting a farm of their own.
- Disabled veterans who are seeking internship positions, typically on smaller farms, to obtain training and a peaceful environment to heal from their war experience.
- Veterans that grew up on family farms and came home with war-related injuries and need extra help getting back into farming careers.
A large number (we estimate approximate 30 percent) of these veterans are classified 8a disabled. Many, reflecting the makeup of our military, are racial minorities, and between 10 and 15 percent are women.
WHAT WE DO
Raising awareness. We mobilize exciting opportunities in today’s agriculture industry to veterans while simultaneously building awareness within the farming community of how the young men and women coming out of the military can solve our needs for new farmers and skilled labor.
Career Development. Our trained staff councils veterans and still active-duty veterans on the options of education, training, internships, and support for the type of farming or food career that fits their interest, location and unique skills and abilities.
Employment Development. Our staff will work to find veterans a living wage job in the food and farming industry and will help those companies looking for good employees find a veteran to fill their needs.
Educational Farming Retreats. We facilitate 2-day educational farming retreats for veterans scheduled for 2011 in California, Arkansas, Iowa and Pennsylvania that are sponsored by the USDA. Additional one-day educational farm visits are planned in several states including California throughout the year.
Mentoring. FVC works to match a beginning farmer-veteran or one returning to a family farm with experts in business planning, production or marketing tailored to where they need the most help.
Fellowship Fund. The Farmer-Veteran Fellowship Fund helps raise cash and in-kind donations of seed, fertilizers, irrigation supplies, farm equipment (new and used) and breeding stock of animals to help give qualifying veterans assistance in going to school, training or starting their food or farm business.
Training of Farm Groups. FVC is committed to helping the wonderful groups around the country that help beginning farmers and ranchers learn about the special programs available for farmer-veterans and the resources available for some of the unique needs that some individuals may have.
Helping Injured Farmer-Veterans. FVC manages the Bob Woodruff Farming Fellowship to help OIF and OEF veterans with war-related injuries advance their food and farming careers. We work with AgrAbility to help solve the special needs of farming with disabilities.
Advocacy. We are leading a national campaign to enlist support for returning veterans in the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill.
OUR APPROACH
The overarching goal of the Farmer-Veteran Coalition is to provide veterans with education, risk management training, and technical assistance to prepare them to become economically and ecologically viable beginning farmers.
The Farmer-Veteran Coalition has a three tiered approach to reach the widest amount of returning veterans looking for viable career opportunities.
Our Outreach and Recruitment tier is designed to engage with as many potential farmers as possible to disseminate unique opportunities that exist for beginning farmers today, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, limited resources, or disabilities caused during military service.
In order to reach the widest audience possible, we have begun sponsoring regional ‘Food and Farming Veteran Career Fairs’, showcasing educational, training, and employment opportunities, as well as assistance for those who are beginning farms and farm-industry businesses of their own.
Our second tier is to guide current and future agriculture producers through a several year process of Education, Training, and Employment. We believe that the tools received during this process are the keys to a safe, successful, and sustainable long-term career.
The third and final tier, Mentorship and Risk Management, is focused on assistance to those who have begun farming on their own, with our help, or have returned to their family farm. This phase involves one-on-one mentoring in successful production, marketing, and business practices.
OUR PROGRAMS
1. Food and Farming Veteran Career Fairs: These fairs bring together and forge partnerships between educational institutions, farms and agricultural businesses seeking employees and organizations that support beginning farmers. Our first was held in Santa Rosa, California on March 5, 2010. Our second was held in Santa Monica, California on June 30.
2. Educational Farming Retreats for Veterans: These retreats are organized around specific subject matters (i.e. adapting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), crop insurance options for small farmers, gaining access to new regional markets) and are designed to stimulate interest in agricultural careers, provide education about managing risks to create successful farming ventures, and provide an opportunity for veterans, who are also beginning farmers, to network and learn from one another.
3. Farmer-Veteran Fellowship Program: The fellowship formalizes support to launch the successful careers in food and farming of military veterans. The Fellowship entails the collection and disbursement of fellowships, grants and in-kind donations to qualifying veterans and the connecting of those veterans to appropriate mentors and advisors that can help them make the most productive use of the contribution. The fund will be managed by a panel of farming and business professionals who will meet regularly to review and select qualified candidates.
4. Farmer-Veteran Mentorship Program: The FVC was founded by a specialty crop producer with over forty years of experience. Our Board of Advisors and key supporters represent decades of experience and expertise in business and agriculture. Through matching individual veterans with mentors in their area and specific crop interest, FVC will perform regular visits to the farms of veterans in our program.
[1] The Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire,http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/nov/as09war.cfm?type=n
[2] Dreazen, Yochi; The Walls Street Journal, March 25, 2008
