November 11 marks Veterans Day, a day honoring military veterans and paying respect to those who have served. With 19.6 million veterans in the United States—1.2 million leaving active duty over the last five years alone—Americans will honor the heroism of soldiers with parades, services, and other special assemblies and activities.
This year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs celebrates the theme “Service”—an acknowledgment that veterans contribute to society in many ways during and after active duty. Veterans take the lessons they’ve learned and the skills they’ve accrued to become many of America’s leaders, entrepreneurs, volunteers, and farmers. Food Tank is highlighting 19 organizations helping veterans transition into food entrepreneurship and farming.
Archi’s Institute is an agricultural training program for military veterans located on a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-certified organic hydroponic produce operation in Escondido, California. Founded by Colin Archipley, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and his wife, Karen Archipley, Archi’s Institute acts as an agricultural entrepreneurial incubator program. The military veterans who participate receive an education in food production and in business management, with a certificate in sustainable agriculture.
ATF is a program of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) providing sustainable agriculture training for veterans. Through a combination of farm tours and classroom instruction, the program focuses on business planning, livestock production, and fruit and vegetable production. NCAT specialists train participating veterans in sustainable and organic agriculture, getting started in farming, qualifying for government programs that reward land stewardship and resource conservation, and pursuing profitable niche markets such as organic meats and grains or agriculture tourism. In 2019, ATF opened a second training for past participants to gain a more in-depth understanding of sustainable agriculture.
BGBG serves veterans in Texas and across the country by providing online and hands-on education in all areas of production agriculture. Founded through a partnership between the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the USDA New Farmers Veterans Program, BGBG focus on sustainable farm business practices through a three-phase training: an agricultural workshop, an online business planning course, and hands-on education in agricultural production. Through this organization, veterans can gain business planning assistance, connections to funding for farm businesses, and valuable knowledge and skills.
Chobani partnered with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) to create a food incubator program for Veteran-founded startups. The program includes a 1-week incubator at Chobani’s offices in New York City and direct mentorship from Chobani and IVMF executives and experts. This year, Chobani selected two veteran-lead companies: Amore Congelato, which produces gelato and sorbet sweetened with agave nectar, and J. Lee’s Gourmet BBQ Sauce Inc, which produces a barbecue sauce featured as one of the top 100 sauces worldwide.
The Delaware Valley University Organic Farming Program is a one-year certificate program offered in partnership with the Rodale Institute. The curriculum combines classroom courses on animal science, marketing, vegetable production, organic crop science, entomology, weed management, and sustainable agriculture. This program is open to all students but was created with military veterans in mind and has support from the school’s office of veteran and military affairs. Delaware Valley University is a yellow-ribbon school, meaning that they allow veteran students to pay tuition via grants provided through the GI bill as well as receive a housing allowance through the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).
DTI’s fellowship program is a five-month program that helps post-9/11 veterans dive back into education, gaining first-hand experience in leading a small business and exploring multiple civilian career options. Taking place at the Dog Tag Bakery, each cohort participates in classes and culinary, catering, and bakery management training. DTI’s courses offer a holistic transition into civilian life, including courses in business, accounting, finance, and even yoga and personal storytelling. Each fellow completes the program having earned a Certificate in Business Administration from Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies.
Enhancing Veterans Farm Fellows Program at the Veterans Farm enrolls combat veterans from every era in a three-month intensive training curriculum to teach them everything from creating a business plan to growing organic produce. The Florida-based organization also works in south Georgia and focuses on providing services to veterans who suffer from traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other related injuries, as well as young veterans most at-risk of unemployment.
Offered by the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, EBV provides entrepreneurial training and education for 21st-century veterans with service-related disabilities. EBV includes a free three-phase program that requires participants to follow an online curriculum, conduct a residency at the School of Hotel Administration, and engage in a year of follow-up support and mentorship. EBV focuses on helping veterans start businesses specifically in the food and beverage industry, helping past participants become chefs and restaurateurs.
Iraq War veterans James Jeffers and Steve Smith founded FARM after they founded an urban farming business called Eat the Yard; Jeffers and Smith praised farming as a rewarding and fulfilling way to reintegrate into civilian life, so they launched FARM to support others like them. FARM includes a Future Farmer Internship Program, which is a hands-on training program for veterans who want to explore careers in agriculture. They also run a three-phase training and technical assistance program to support veteran beginning farmers and ranchers in partnership with Texas A&M University, called The Battleground to Breaking Ground Entrepreneurial Training Project.
Growing Warriors Project is a national veteran-oriented food security organization based in central Kentucky. By working to equip veterans and their communities to grow and preserve high-quality, naturally grown produce through a hands-on curriculum, the project seeks to help veterans build important community roles for themselves as they transition back to civilian life. The project’s founder, Michael Lewis, promotes sustainable farming as a literal form of nation-building for which returning veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces are well-suited.
11. Heroes to Hives
Founder and former Army Patriot missile fire controller Adam Ingrao believed not only that veterans could help protect the national bee population—but also that beekeeping could help veterans heal. In partnership with the AT&T Foundation and Michigan State University’s Michigan Pollinator Initiative, Ingrao takes combat veterans through a nine-month program to train them in beekeeping. The program is free for participants and invites veterans with service-related disabilities, PTSD, or traumatic brain injuries.
12. Heroic Food
Heroic Food is a New York-based, tuition-free farmer-training program for military veterans in partnership with the FVC. The nonprofit offers a Full-Year Immersion (FYI) training program with a holistic support system, including paid training positions on mentor farms. The immersion program is designed to qualify trainees for farm crew leadership and assistant manager positions upon completion, by teaching them professional levels of competence in both production and management skills. The program also offers Farm Entry Short Courses (FESCs), including seminars and hands-on workshops for veterans who are new to agriculture or interested in farming.
13. Operation Groundwork is a non-profit organization focused on the therapeutic benefits of farming for veterans who have suffered a combat injury or who are adjusting to a new disability. Located in North Salem, Indiana, and founded by an Air Force veteran, Operation Groundwork offers educational training for farmers on Blue Yonder Organic Farm. The organization is founded around the idea that farming can play a unique role in the recovery of the physical, spiritual, and psychological wounds from war.
14. The Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) is an organization committed to cultivating the next generation of food leaders by bringing together the farming and military communities. The FVC encompasses a number of programs dedicated to this mission, including the Farmer Veteran Fellowship Fund, which provides direct assistance to veterans who are in their first few years of farming. The FVC helps to convene the broad community around training veterans in agriculture.
Veterans Agricultural Center of Connecticut (VACC) provides both training and therapy to returning combat and interested veterans through a six to eight-week hands-on training paired with online training. VACC provides instruction with a focus on organic hybrid-hydroponic systems and the goal of preparing veterans to start home-based farms or businesses. Participants will be employable by the end of the program for greenhouse operations, cooperatives, farm management, produce delivery, or sales.
The Veteran Farmer Program is a hands-on program of the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture that encourages veterans to engage in organic and regenerative farming practices to capitalize on an ever-growing market of local, sustainable food. Arcadia operates a 10-month Veteran Farmer Reserve Program for veterans interested in exploring agriculture without committing to a full-time training program. And through the Veteran Farm Fellowship Program, veterans can participate in an intensive on-farm training program for a full year. Participants are involved in all aspects of Arcadia’s farm, located in the Washington, D.C., area, including food access and distribution, working with local chefs and retailers, and farm and nutrition education.
Veteran Farmers Project is a program of the Center for Rural Affairs that gives veterans, almost a million of whom over the last 10 years come from rural communities, an opportunity to return to their agricultural roots and reinvigorate America’s small farms. The Project provides veterans with business and agriculture education to help them succeed as farmers, regardless of experience level. VFP staff can coordinate personalized individual consultations and counseling for participating veterans who have questions regarding farm production, business, and financing.
VTF strives to bring family farming back to the forefront of the American landscape. U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Buck Adams founded VTF in 2011 after overwhelming veteran interest in his organic greenhouse employment program. Upon completion of their 12-week educational program, VTF provides employment support to participating veterans. VTF’s program leads under the understanding that farming utilizes many of the same skills required in the military, including hard work and attention to detail.
19. Vets to Ag
Vets to Ag is a program at Michigan State University that trains homeless U.S. veterans to work in agriculture. Participants train in plant and soil science, equipment operation, integrated pest management, computer skills, and other topics. The program includes room and board for the entire training period, as well as both classroom instruction and hands-on training. The program also integrates job preparation and employer outreach skills.