Last week, I gave a keynote address at a veteran career fair here in Los Angeles. The goal of the event, hosted by the Farmer-Veteran Coalition, was to bring together Veterans looking for work with businesses and schools involved in bringing food from farm and field to table. 

The event was an example of some of the important work that Veteran service organizations are doing to help Veterans returning home find meaningful employment. 

As I’ve talked about in previous blogs, work is one of the cornerstones of a Veteran’s successful return to civilian life.   It supports any kind of physical or psychological rehabilitation a Vet is going through.  Without meaningful employment, it is almost impossible continue healing and readjusting after war.

I helped start the first veteran community garden project for Vietnam Veterans in 1986, so I know what a great therapeutic process growing things can be. We began the project as a work therapy program and it continues to operate today as a self-sufficient business, run by Veterans, that grows pesticide-free produce to local residents and restaurants.    

Unemployment among U.S. military Veterans is an issue that has grown significantly since 2007.   According to an April 2, 2010 Army Times article, there are currently more than 250,000 unemployed U.S. military veterans in America.   The article stated that as of March 2010 the rate of unemployment for Veterans ages 18-24 may be as high as 30%, compared to a rate of 21.7% for the same group a year earlier. 

This 39% increase in unemployed young veterans is an alarming statistic that calls for immediate action.

The Farmer-Veteran Coalition (FVC) is a non-profit started by American farmers to help these young men and women find work in agriculture while simultaneously addressing our nation’s critical need for new farmers and a safe food supply.

Now is a tremendous time for Veterans to get into agriculture.  There’s a near perfect storm of social and economic factors.  Veterans need jobs.  A disproportionate number of Veterans come from rural communities where agriculture can be one of the viable career options.  Farms need capable people.  Water supplies and migrant workforces are shrinking, demanding new innovative agricultural methods.  Fuel prices and a concern for a safer food supply are fueling a movement for sustainable local food production.

And working with the earth, growing things, feeding people can be a tremendously healing. Horticulture therapy for veterans has been around since the 1940s.  When you combine that with the therapeutic nature of meaningful employment, it can be a winning combination for a recovering Vet.