Farmer Veteran Coalition

America’s agricultural industry is witnessing a shift towards local and sustainable production and away from processing and mass production. WWII was the beginning of America’s big industrial farms, yet they were met with resistance from those who valued small-scale agriculture. President Truman’s Secretary of Agriculture, Charles Brannan, explained that, “through all the pressures of mobilization and stepped-up production, we must safeguard the traditional family-farm principle as a valuable American institution.” The current movement toward local and small-scale production seeks to reconnect Americans to the land, produce healthier, more accessible food, support local communities, make the profession of farming viable, and create a more sustainable society.

The Farmer-Veteran Coalition (FVC) is excited to have a hand in this movement through the Fellowship Fund, our small grants program. With the high veteran unemployment rate and the increasing average age of the farmer, the military-to-agriculture transition is becoming more prevalent. The FVC Fellowship Fund helps veterans get their start in the agriculture industry and assists those who are already operational. One of the most rewarding aspects of being part of this military-to-agriculture transition is witnessing the farming veterans reconnecting with the land. Many of the veterans within the FVC network suffer from the wounds of war, be it physical or invisible and they find solace in working with the land, in producing life rather than destroying it.

We support our farming veterans who have developed CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and sell at farmer’s markets, creating and maintaining connections with their communities. Part of the local food movement is the expansion of farmers’ markets. According to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, the number of farmers’ markets rose to 5,274 in 2009, up from 2,756 in 1998 and 1,755 in 1994.  Matt Soldano (left), a Marine Corps veteran and grantee of the FVC Fellowship Fund, runs a free-range egg and meat bird poultry farm in New Jersey. Matt explains that he enjoys “getting out to the farmer’s market every week and giving people a real lesson about how their food is produced and the people who produce it.” 

Air Force veteran Drew Woods (right), a free-range poultry farmer in Arkansas and grantee of the FVC Fellowship Fund, also participates in his local food system. Drew is a great example of a farming veteran who makes the extra effort to make his products more accessible to the local community. One of Drew’s favorite customers is an older Estonian woman who had trouble taking her usual walk down to the farmer’s market, where Shady Grove sells its products. Drew now delivers several packages of chicken thighs to her home weekly and cannot imagine what could “be more rewarding than providing good, wholesome food to family, friends and neighbors.”

Frank Golbeck (left), a US Navy veteran and grantee of the FVC Fellowship Fund started Golden Coast Mead LLC in San Diego, CA. He makes his mead from local honey and, with the help of the FVC Fellowship Fund Frank has purchased 23 beehives that will be placed on Golbeck family farmland. This will allow him to make an estate mead with his very own honey and sell it at local farmers’ markets. 

FVC works to both honor those who have served our country and participate in a movement that is changing the face of American agriculture. We are happy to support farming veterans in their efforts to create a local food presence and give back to their communities.