Farming Industry Targets Military Veterans

Mobilizing military veterans to help feed America. In recent years thousands of veterans are answering that call. Many of them say farming is helping them find peace and a purpose back home.

The government, nonprofit groups and even universities are helping military veterans find careers in agriculture.

When service men and women leave the military adjusting to civilian life and finding a second career can be a challenge. For some finding a new career means looking into farming.

As the farming industry searches for new leaders, they believe military veterans can find comfort in a farming career and once again answer the call.

According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture the average American farmer is 58 years old, farmers over 55 control more than half of the country’s farmland, and half of them are likely to retire in the next decade.

Farming industry leaders believe military veterans bring something special to the table and can help the industry overcome the challenge of lacking a future generation of farmers.

"I think there was a lot of parents who pushed their kids away from farming originally and we’re starting to see the result of that now," said Nick Deftereos, an Ag instructor at Reedley College. "There’s some hurdles getting started, but veterans tend to be those guys who won’t take no for an answer and they’re able to kind of find solutions to that."

Here are some resources for military veterans who are interested in looking into opportunities in farming:

If you would like to contribute to a Navy veteran farming in Fresno County, here is an opportunity: