Veterans see more opportunities in agriculture
WASHINGTON – Military veterans-turned-farmers said Wednesday the federal government is offering them more tools to get into agriculture, but many producers said they struggle to get through the paperwork and bureaucratic red tape.
Almost three dozen veterans from around the country, including Iowa, participated in a forum at the Agriculture Department to talk about opportunities in farming and ranching for servicemen leaving the military.
Veterans who now farm said it helped them resume everyday life once they left the service and gave them a sense of purpose. Several said that, without agriculture, they probably wouldn't be alive.
But the veterans said that while the USDA and support groups have made the move into agriculture easier, it can still sometimes be overwhelming.
Aaron White, a livestock and vegetable farmer from Carlisle who served four years in the Marine Corps, said he has eschewed services offered by the USDA.
"It is a bit intimidating. I think the services out there are great," said White, who worries about who to reach out to for help and whether he has the money to participate in some of the programs. "I have not personally used any of the services through USDA because I am somewhat intimidated by the process."
Jason Kerr, an Army veteran who raises blueberries in DeWitt, told USDA officials that they should communicate more with veterans who farm and other producers directly — a theme echoed by others in attendance.
"We might not always like the outcome, but we're the ones with the skin in the game," Kerr said. "When all the communication comes from the top down, it's not going to make sense to me personally. Let us come to the table."
The transition from the battlefield to the farm field underscores a growing trend in America: As thousands of young military personnel leave the service, many are finding themselves drawn to the prospect of jobs on farms and ranches scattered throughout the countryside, according to the Farmer Veteran Coalition of Iowa, which works with farm groups to put veterans to work in agriculture. It also comes as agriculture faces an increasingly aging population where the average producer is now 58, underscoring the need for new farmers.
USDA officials said even though rural America makes up 17 percent of the country's population, it accounts for 44 percent of the men and women who served in the military. Iowa has almost 234,000 veterans.
The department said Wednesday it has expanded its outreach in recent years with veterans.
A major boon came in the farm bill, put in place in early 2014. It required the USDA to make veterans a priority and established a liaison at the department to help farmers understand agriculture programs and advocate for their interests. It's already paying off with about 20 percent of recent hires at the department being military veterans.
"We look for veterans," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the group Wednesday. "We know what you bring to the table: tremendous skills, experiences, knowledge and the capacity to deal with a crisis situation."
Vilsack said that until recently the USDA had run into challenges reaching out to veterans before they leave the service — something that is easier for businesses and other groups — to discuss opportunities in agriculture. He said the USDA is making progress working with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department, and is in the process of targeting military facilities that are especially ripe for attracting new agriculture workers.
"We do understand the restorative value of linking growers back to the land and having a positive experience growing something and producing something," Vilsack said. "It has been a little difficult for us (to get to you before you leave the service) because unfortunately, for whatever reason, agriculture is not the first thing they think of when they think of returning veterans."
Contact Christopher Doering at cdoering@gannett.com or reach him at Twitter: @cdoering