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Farming Careers for Young Veterans

Yes! Magazine   
July 5th, 2011

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By Robert Mellinger

American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan often find that employment prospects are scarce. But veterans who want to transition into careers as farmers are getting help from a growing number of projects around the country.

FVC founder Michael O’Gorman addresses a group of veterans in an organic tomato-growing operation during a training session in Ensenada, Mexico.

Photo courtesy of FVC Photos.

Michael O’Gorman, a successful organic farmer with 40 years’ experience, formed the Farmer-Veteran Coalition (FVC) to connect veterans to the resources they need to start their farming careers. Earlier this year the FVC established the Farmer-Veteran Fellowship Fund. The fund will provide individual grants of up to $10,000 for education, supplies and equipment.

Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots at the University of Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture offers training to would-be veteran-farmers. And Archi’s Acres, a bio-hydroponic farm started by former Marine Colin Archipley and his wife Karen, is one of an increasing number of veteran-owned farms training aspiring veteran-farmers.

Military enlistment is greater in rural parts of the country where traditional jobs are in decline. At the same time, the average American farmer is nearing retirement age, and U.S. agriculture needs a new generation of farmers.

A study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire found that soldiers from rural areas accounted for 27 percent of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared with a national rural population of only 19 percent.

O’Gorman reflects that farming offers a personal transition away from combat. There is an “environmental peace,” he says, that comes from working outside with living things. Equally important, farming provides a mission to fulfill the needs of a community. Many of the farmer-veterans have found that their new careers heal the wounds of war in a way that no medication or counseling ever could—with new opportunities for life.

Adam Burke was injured twice in Iraq. Now, with his wife Michelle, he has started a 5-acre blueberry farm designed so that veterans in wheelchairs can help take care of the plants. Photo courtesy of FVC Photos.

Army veteran and farmer Sufyan Bunch is FVC’s Veteran Outreach Coordinator. Photo courtesy of FVC Photos.

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Robert Mellinger wrote this article for Beyond Prisons, the Summer 2011 issue of YES! Magazine. Robert is an editorial intern at YES!

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