Farmer-Veteran Coalition Heals Vets Down on the Organic Farm
What if there was a way to help our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans re-enter society and find a career they loved that also heals the trauma of combat?
Michael O’Gorman, one of the pioneers of the organic food movement and founder of theFarmer-Veteran Coalition, may have done just that—through the rejuvenating power of growing delicious and healthy food.
A father of a young veteran, O’Gorman started Farmer-Veteran Coalition after he learned that many men and women from rural and farming communities were entering the army. When they came back, they were left with trauma and a lack of employment opportunities.
O’Gorman says, “We thought not only can we help them find jobs, new ways to farm and rejuvenate the income in rural America, we could also help solve America’s need for more farmers and for food security.”
The idea is working, and veterans are turning to O’Gorman for help.O’Gorman says, “We’ve had veterans come to us and have been told that this guy is unemployable because he’s just dealing with his experience. A month later, he’s clean and sober. A year later, he’s on a farm and making good money and going to school to study agriculture. Two years later he wants to get his own farm.”
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