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Farm schools for veterans

texas-fvc

The newly established Veterans Farming Education and Training Center will help veterans become farmers and provide them the resources they need to start out on their own.

President of the newly formed Texas Farmer Veteran Coalition chapter John Kimbrough tells Brownfield he’s working to convert buffer zones around military bases into incubator farms.  “We’re starting out in Fort Hood and taking the lands that are just outside of the bases and turning those into farm schools, helping to maintain the farmland that is already there.”

Kimbrough says in the next 10 years about 60 percent of farmers will age out of the industry and there will be need for a new generation of farmers.   “We give our veterans an opportunity to step into a farming situation where they can continue to serve their country, but they’re serving their country through producing safe foods.”

He says the Veterans Farming Education and Training Center at Fort Hood will become part of National Incubator Farm Training Initiative which has projects throughout the country to help all beginning farmers including veterans get started farming.

The Kimbroughs spoke with Brownfield during the recent National Farmer Veteran Conference in East Lansing, Michigan.

AUDIO: Interview with John and Erin Kimbrough

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