[Senate Hearing 114-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A REVIEW OF OPPORTUNITIES AND BENEFITS FOR MILITARY VETERANS IN
AGRICULTURE
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TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development,
Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies,
Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 2:37 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jerry Moran (chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Moran, Daines, Merkley, and Tester.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JERRY MORAN
Senator Moran. This hearing will come to order. Good
afternoon. The purpose of today's hearing is to review
opportunities and benefits for military veterans in
agriculture. Several of us on this subcommittee serve on the
Veterans Committee, and all of us on this subcommittee have an
interest in veterans, and all of us have an interest in
agriculture, and I think there is an opportunity for us to
serve our veterans and serve the agricultural community as
well.
We have before us today Mr. Lanon Baccam, Deputy Under
Secretary and Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison at the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Mr. Gary LaGrange,
president of Soldier Agricultural Vocation Education (SAVE)
from Manhattan, Kansas; Ms. Alison Perry, executive director of
the Central Oregon Veterans Ranch; and Mr. Paul Kanning, owner
of Tom Tilda Farm in Montana. I appreciate each of you being
here with us today.
I am especially proud to have a fellow Kansan here to tell
a story about what is happening in regard to agriculture and
veterans in our State, and Mr. LaGrange is an advisor of mine
on veteran and military issues, and I appreciate and value his
friendship.
This program is known as SAVE. The SAVE Program provides
transition assistance, training and therapy on training farms
so that veterans can be equipped to farm on their own, and I
look forward to Mr. LaGrange telling you today about the impact
of that program on veterans' lives.
Chief Ulrick is joining Mr. LaGrange to share some of his
experiences with SAVE.
As all of you know, the President's budget requested a
number of increases to enhance opportunities in the
agricultural sector for military veterans, so I appreciate the
insight we will gather from this today.
I know I speak for all of us in saying we are anxious to
hear what you have to say and to learn from your experiences. I
think the goal that I have is to figure out how best we can
utilize the resources that we provide, the taxpayer dollars we
provide to the Department of Agriculture to assist individuals
and private organizations as we attempt to create greater
opportunities for those who served our country.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Jerry Moran
This hearing will come to order. Good afternoon. The purpose of
today's hearing is to review the opportunities and benefits for
military veterans in agriculture.
We have before us today Mr. Lanon Baccam, Deputy Under Secretary
and Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison at USDA; Mr. Gary LaGrange,
President of Soldier Agricultural Vocation Education, from Manhattan,
Kansas; Ms. Alison Perry, Executive Director of the Central Oregon
Veterans Ranch; and Mr. Paul Kanning, owner of Tom Tilda Farm in
Montana. I appreciate all of you for taking the time to be here today.
I am especially proud to have a fellow Kansan here today to tell
you all about the great things happening in Manhattan with the Soldier
Agricultural Vocation Education program, also known as the SAVE
program. The SAVE program provides transition assistance, training, and
therapy on a training farm so that veterans can be equipped to farm on
their own, and I look forward to Mr. LaGrange telling you today about
the impact that the program is making in veterans' lives. Also, I'd
like to thank Chief Ulrick for joining Mr. LaGrange to share some of
his experiences with SAVE.
As you all know, the President's budget requested a number of
increases to enhance opportunities in the agricultural sector for
military veterans, so I appreciate the insight you all bring on these
efforts.
I think I speak for everyone in saying we are anxious to hear from
today's witnesses about their experiences, so I will now turn to our
Ranking Member, Senator Merkley, for his opening remarks.
Senator Moran. I now will turn to the ranking member,
Senator Merkley.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY
Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank
you for holding this particular hearing. 1,300 veterans return
to civilian life every day here in America. Combine this with
the fact that although rural Americans make up only 16 percent
of the population, 40 percent of returning veterans are from
rural areas, and opportunities for veterans in agriculture,
therefore, are very important.
I do want to welcome all of you and the work that you are
doing, and particularly appreciate the investment of time and
energy both in the mission and to come here to testify, and I
would especially like to welcome Ms. Alison Perry from Bend,
Oregon.
Ms. Perry is a licensed professional counselor and founder
of the Central Oregon Veterans Ranch. She is a sister, an aunt,
and a granddaughter of Army, Marine, and Air Force veterans.
She has been a strong advocate for the veterans of Central
Oregon for many years.
She has worked with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
patients at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities in
Portland and Bend, and it was from those experiences that she
developed the vision of a ranch for veterans to come and
connect with each other and the land. Her hard work and drive
has brought this vision to life, and now the Central Oregon
Veterans Ranch is a 19-acre farm where veterans of all walks of
life can come to work, to heal, and to support one another.
The three counties surrounding the ranch have more than
20,000 veterans, and certainly many of them are going to find
their way to Ms. Perry's project. Thank you very much for your
work on behalf of our servicemen and servicewomen, and for
coming to testify today.
Thank you.
Senator Moran. Senator Merkley, thank you very much. We
also have a witness from Montana, and there are two Senators
from Montana at the table who I would welcome to introduce and
speak about that witness.
Senator Daines.
Senator Daines. Well, welcome, a warm welcome to Paul
Kanning. Paul is from Flaxville, Montana. That is not the end
of the Internet but you can see it from there. It is truly out
in the great part of our State.
I understand he is third generation there from Northeast
Montana, a lieutenant colonel as well in the Air Force, served
his country for 20 years after graduating from Montana State
University, my alma mater, a Bobcat, and then came back to the
family farm there. Paul, warm welcome to Washington, DC. Thanks
for taking time off the farm to bring your voice here to DC.
Senator Moran. Senator Tester.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
Ranking Member Merkley, also. Hopefully, Jeff, your finger
being hit by the mallet will not end up like mine did when I
hit mine by mallet. It is great to be here.
Senator Merkley. How large was that gavel that got your
finger?
Senator Tester. It is part of the hazards of the job when
you have Moran sitting to your left.
I appreciate the opportunity to introduce a fellow Montanan
and fellow farmer before this subcommittee. Paul does farm in
what he would call ``God's country,'' Flaxville, Montana, a
family farm, totally diversified with wheat and peas, lentils,
fava beans, flax, and granola. It has been in his family like
mine has for over 100 years. You just stopped a little quicker.
Mine kept going west a little further.
Paul has been back on the farm since 2013. Prior to that,
he served his country in the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel.
I cannot think of a better voice to speak to the opportunities
in rural America and the opportunities in agriculture than a
veteran such as Paul.
There is nothing more therapeutic than having your hands in
the dirt, and I am little biased when I say that, being
somebody who has their hands in the dirt.
In Montana, agriculture is the number one industry. Couple
that with the fact that we have one of the highest rates of
veterans per capita in this country, it makes sense to get more
veterans involved in family farm agriculture.
So, this hearing is about jobs, it is about the economy, it
is about honoring our commitment to veterans, and it is about
making rural America all it can be while the veterans make this
country all it can be.
So, it is great to have you here, Paul. We thank you for
traveling to DC from Montana, and thank you for your testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Moran. Thank you, Senator Tester. We will start
with Mr. Baccam. I have been practicing, sir. We welcome you
and look forward to your testimony.
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF LANON BACCAM
Mr. Baccam. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee,
thank you for this opportunity to provide information on the
programs, accomplishments, and objectives of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, on behalf of our military veterans.
In addition to serving as Deputy Under Secretary for Farm
and Foreign Agricultural Services, I also have the honor of
serving as the USDA's military veterans agricultural liaison, a
position created in the 2014 farm bill. This position allows me
to track resources across the USDA, and to coordinate with
other government agencies at the Federal, State, and local
levels, as well as with farm associations and veteran serving
organizations.
Through these partnerships, the full suite of USDA programs
can be shared with veterans nationwide. Taking care of our
veterans is personal for me, and it is particularly rewarding
to work with those moving back to rural America where I am
from.
My family's story is the American dream, and was molded by
the unrest in Southeast Asia in the wake of the Vietnam
conflicts. Many people left everything behind to escape the
war, including my parents and sisters, who risked their lives
to escape from Laos, only to become political refugees.
With the help of the U.S. Government, and with the
generosity of the American people, in 1980, my family settled
in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, a small town of less than 7,000
residents. I was born and raised in Mount Pleasant, and that is
where my parents instilled in me that the United States of
America offered the greatest possibilities of reaching one's
highest potential, that the opportunities I had to go to school
to get an education, and to have a good meal each day were
because we lived in a free country.
It is where I learned the importance of giving back to my
country, to fight for the freedoms every citizen enjoys in this
great Nation, and why I enlisted and spent nearly 8 years in
the U.S. Army and Iowa National Guard.
I am a post 9/11 veteran from rural America, and I can
connect directly with the veterans we seek to help. I served as
an Army combat engineer in a year long deployment to Kandahar,
Afghanistan, in 2004. I was stationed on a small provincial
reconstruction team base, focusing on construction and
explosive demolitions.
My experiences growing up in rural America with the
military and from my deployments help me understand what our
current transitioning servicemembers are going through today.
As Secretary Vilsack has noted, rural America sends a
disproportionate amount of its sons and daughters into the
Armed Forces. This is because the values that rural Americans
have are many of the same values held by members of the
military, belief in hard work, love of country, respect for the
land, and the importance of giving back and investing in the
collective prosperity and future of this country.
These values coupled with every veteran's skills,
experiences, training, as well as with their leadership
development and dedication, makes them the perfect fit for a
career in agriculture.
There are many ways we are working to assist veterans, and
I look forward to sharing them with you today, from connecting
veterans with organizations to help them create business plans
and to get financial management training, to apply for farm
ownership and operating loans and risk management tools, to
implementing conservation practices and expanding into value-
added products.
The USDA will be there to help them at every step along the
way. It is not just about farming or ranching either. The USDA
can help veterans purchase homes or start a business in rural
America. With our nutrition programs, we can help make sure
there is enough food on the table for their families, and we
are also working very hard to expand the number of veterans we
employ at the Department. I am proud to say we currently have
over 11,000 veterans who work at the USDA.
The work that we are doing at the Department is especially
important now that nearly 200,000 servicemembers are expected
to separate from active duty each year. According to the
Department of Defense (DOD), this results in approximately
1,300 veterans and their families returning to civilian life
every single day.
While many troops have plans upon returning home, many
others have challenges, finding new jobs, assimilating back
into civilian life, or transitioning their skills into new
careers.
We want these veterans to know that rural America has a
place for them, and that the USDA has tools and resources to
help them follow their dreams of starting a farm or ranch
business.
As I like to tell every servicemember who is considering a
career in agriculture, your mission in the Armed Forces is to
protect this country. Our mission in agriculture is to provide
for it. We want you to join us. Farming and ranching will give
you that same sense of duty, purpose, and meaningful work when
you are no longer wearing the uniform of the United States
military.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify
today. I would be happy to answer any questions.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Lanon Baccam
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this
opportunity to provide information on the programs, accomplishments,
and objectives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on behalf
of our nation's military veterans.
As you know, I recently assumed the role of Deputy Under Secretary
for Farm and Foreign
Agricultural Services, overseeing the Farm Service Agency and Risk
Management Agency.
I also have the honor of serving as the USDA Military Veterans
Agricultural Liaison, a position created in the 2014 Farm Bill to
coordinate activities throughout the Department, as well as with other
government agencies and nonprofits, so that USDA resources reach more
active duty military service members and veterans, particularly those
interested in exploring or entering agriculture as a profession upon
their return to civilian life.
As I'm sure you would agree, our veterans' military service
illustrates the type of values held by those of us who grew up in rural
America--love for our nation, respect for the land, belief in hard
work, and the importance of investing in the freedoms that we are so
fortunate to have in this country.
That is certainly true with me. I was born and raised in Mount
Pleasant, Iowa, population 8,600. My hometown is where my parents
instilled in me that the United States of America offered the greatest
possibilities of reaching one's highest potential. It is where I
learned the importance of giving back to my country, and it is why I
enlisted and spent 8 years in the U.S. Army and Iowa National Guard.
During my active duty service in 2004-2005, I served as a combat
engineer during a 15-month mobilization and deployment in Kandahar,
Afghanistan. I was stationed on a small provincial reconstruction team
base and my responsibilities included working to improve our facilities
and defenses, as well as explosive demolitions of unexploded
ordinances, confiscation of drugs, and improvised explosive devices.
Those who have served in the U.S. military, often from diverse
backgrounds and with extensive training, leave the service with unique
skills, experiences, and perspectives. These skills and experiences
include leadership development, dedication to the mission, a culture of
service, and technical know-how, which all translate and can have
enormous benefits for farming and ranching.
I am here today to discuss how USDA can serve veterans returning
from their service who find themselves drawn to agriculture and to
rural America. Providing assistance to returning military veterans is
not a new activity for USDA; in fact, during the past 8 years, we've
achieved some notable results.
Since 2009, USDA has provided $466.8 million in farm loans to help
3,991 veterans purchase farmland, buy equipment and make repairs and
upgrades. Of those loans, our direct operating microloan, which we
started offering 3 years ago to meet the needs of beginning or smaller
operations, is also popular with veterans, providing $25.8 million in
support to help veterans start or grow their farming businesses. USDA
has recently expanded its microloan program portfolio to include farm
ownership as an eligible expense under this program, creating further
opportunity. In 2014, to further support access to credit for beginning
farmers who are veterans, USDA announced it would recognize leadership
positions in the military as a way to satisfy experience requirements
when applying for farm operation microloans.
Since 2009, USDA has invested in housing, job training, and
financial assistance for veterans, such as providing safe and sound
housing through Rural Development's Rural Housing Service by making and
guaranteeing 12,368 loans and providing 1,769 grants to veterans. USDA
has also invested in training and experience for over 850 veterans
through the Veterans Fire Corps, many of which become permanent Forest
Service employees. Including our staff located in communities across
the U.S., there more than 11,000 veterans employed across USDA.
As we work to expand upon these efforts, USDA is focused on three
main goals. First, we are developing and deepening the pipeline that
will create paths from military service to careers in agriculture,
including careers at USDA. Second, we are meeting an increasing number
of transitioning service members at the source (before they leave the
military) by integrating agricultural information into transition
activities in which active duty service members participate around the
world. Lastly, we are working to strengthen and expand the network of
support for veterans, including developing outreach resources,
leveraging technology, and building strong partnerships with national
and community-based veteran organizations. Since the establishment of
the Military Veterans Agricultural Liaison position, we have made
considerable progress towards these goalsUSDA has created new, user-
friendly resources for transitioning service members and veterans to
increase access to USDA programs, including a Veterans in Agriculture
resource booklet, and a one-stop website--ww.usda.gov/veterans--that
also provides resources for new farmers. This site directly partners
with www.usda.gov/newfarmers, which provides new and beginning farmers
and ranchers--many of whom are veterans--with one-stop access to the
programs, technical assistance, and advice available via USDA, in
service of their new and beginning farm businesses.
We've been cultivating more Federal, State, local, and community
partners to ensure that information about agriculture careers and USDA
programs reach the widest audience of service members and veterans. For
example, last fall we joined with the Department of Defense's
Transition Assistance Program so that USDA could reach an additional
200,000 military veterans and their families, providing information
ranging from farm loans, risk management, and conservation programs, to
business programs and technical assistance opportunities to the
veterans interested in farming and ranching.
In February, we entered into an agreement with Hiring Our Heroes
(HOH), a program at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation that helps
military veterans and families find meaningful employment in the
civilian workforce, so that these transitioning members can now have
access to businesses in the agriculture industry, as well as USDA
programs and resources.
And just two weeks ago, I launched the first military-focused
agricultural career workshophosted by USDA, at a HOH Transition Summit
at Fort Bliss, Texas, where we introduced service members, preparing to
transition from the military, to USDA program information and local
staff expertise. USDA staff also participated in a hiring fair, and
this Friday, Texas A&M Extension will be providing a local farm tour
for those service members whose interest was piqued by the workshop.
This is the first of many future agricultural workshops that will be
hosted by USDA staff at these Transition Summits nationwide.
The Department's fiscal year 2017 budget request reflects our
belief that veterans will help lead the next generation of agriculture
and builds on the long standing work of this committee and the
Department to support our veterans. The fiscal year 17 budget includes
approximately $246 million in mandatory and discretionary budget
authority, an increase ofabout $46 million over the fiscal year 2016
enacted level for New and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers, including
veterans. This level of funding will support a program level of more
than $3.3 billion. The request includes an increase of about $12
million in discretionary budget authority specifically to support
military veteran farmers and ranchers. This includes an increase of
$9.2 million in the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to support a program
level of $208 million in direct operating loans, to an estimated 3,800
veteran farmers and ranchers, a guaranteed operating loan fee waiver
for veterans, for an estimated $39 million in guaranteed loans, and a
certified training program which will prequalify veterans for
eligibility for FSA farm ownership loans. Further,the fiscal year 17
budget requests roughly an additional $20 million to support outreach
and coordination activities for New and Beginning Farmers and Ranchers,
including veterans.
The budget also requests $2.5 million for a new competitive Food
and Agriculture Resilience Program for Military Veterans (FARM-Vets)
through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. FARM-Vets
funding will be used to promote competition for basic and applied
research that explores career opportunities and pathways, therapeutic
interventions, resource conservation, and related studies for the
veteran population in the food and agriculture sector. Understanding
why and how best to engage veterans in the agricultural sector is
congruent with the critical need to identify a new generation of
farmers, livestock producers, and entrepreneurs as an aging workforce
transitions to retirement, especially in rural areas where shortages
are acute. Similarly, there is a limited body of research that points
to the therapeutic value of working the land in terms of psychological
and behavioral health function and benefit. This funding will help us
address these needs.
conclusion
Mr. Chairman, when service members return home, we want them to
know that there are real and rewarding opportunities in U.S.
agriculture, that rural America has a place for them, and that the U.S.
Department of Agriculture has tools and resources to help them follow
their dream of starting a farm or ranch business--no matter where
they're from.
That is especially important to me because rural America had a
place for my family, too. In1980 my parents and sisters settled in
Mount Pleasant, Iowa after escaping from Laos and becoming political
refugees in Thailand.
Many of you will remember that the 1960s and 1970s was a period
when Southeast Asia was struggling with unrest in the wake of the
Vietnam conflict. Militias roamed the countryside fighting for
territory and terrorizing families and towns caught in the middle of
the conflict. With widespread food shortages and safety threats,
hundreds of thousands of refugees fled, leaving behind everything they
knew to escape tyranny and famine.
Because America gave my parents a chance, I sit before you today as
a proud Iowan and American who served his nation in wartime. That is
what America is all about and it is reflected in the spirit of our
rural communities. It is why I am honored to be in this position today,
to do all that I can to help my fellow veterans secure opportunities
and achieve their own personal versions of the American dream, while
revitalizing rural America.
Thank you Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify today, and
I'd be happy to answer anyquestions.
Senator Moran. Thank you so very much. Ms. Alison Perry.
STATEMENT OF ALISON PERRY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTRAL
OREGON VETERANS RANCH
Ms. Perry. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee,
thank you so much. It is an honor to be here today.
My name is Alison Perry and I am here to speak to you today
about some of the challenging realities facing our Nation's
combat veterans and how innovative programs like Central Oregon
Veterans Ranch are integrating agriculture and changing
veterans' lives.
I am a licensed professional counselor and family member of
three combat veterans spanning World War II to Iraq, and the
founder of the nonprofit Central Oregon Veterans Ranch.
I began working for the Department of Veterans Affairs 2
years after my brother deployed for the invasion of Iraq as an
Apache helicopter pilot. I worked for 6 years as a trauma
therapist within the VA, treating primarily veterans diagnosed
with post-traumatic stress in both urban and rural settings.
It was those years of intensive clinical work that
compelled me to influence our current methods of veteran health
care by developing innovative ways that veterans can heal and
continue to positively serve our Nation.
By now you are aware of the unacceptable statistics of 22
veteran suicides a day, and the grim reality that we lose a
veteran to suicide in this Nation every 19 minutes. Currently,
our veterans come home from war, are discharged from the
military, and face an existing healthcare system that deems
them disabled, wounded, unable to work, and is limited in its
scope of diagnosing and treating solely the symptoms of combat
trauma.
Based on these ongoing alarming statistics, in the years of
direct clinical experience of therapists like myself, it is
evident that we at a critical juncture in identifying
innovative approaches that address the complex dimensions of
combat trauma, including moral injury, identity issues,
disillusionment, lack of meaning and purpose, and confusion
about how to move forward.
The New York Society for Ethical Culture states ``Along
side the renewed attention on complimentary therapies for post-
traumatic stress, there is a growing understanding that
treating acute trauma is only the first stage of treatment. Any
effective intervention must also incorporate structures for
reintegrating veterans back into their families, workplaces,
and communities.''
All across the United States today, priority is placed on
agriculture, whether within urban settings or rural America.
Emphasis is placed on utilizing land in ways that optimizes
food production while enhancing our environmental health.
I am here to tell you today that there is a third dimension
to our focus on agriculture as a valuable tool to heal our
combat veterans with post-traumatic stress, help them find
peace, and help them to re-enter civilian life successfully.
Agriculture is proving itself to be a viable therapeutic
option for veterans, effectively assisting in their transition
into civilian society. Veterans benefit from being outdoors,
being engaged in physical activity, strengthening themselves
through work with purpose and interacting with the natural
world.
Growing and caring for living things is curative for those
who have participated in war. The pace on a farm built around
the growing seasons is a contrast of a high speed atmosphere of
deployment. Completion of concrete tasks in agriculture is
empowering and therapeutic.
Additionally, agriculture provides a vehicle for meaning
and purpose for veterans in the local community. It can be a
means for veterans to contribute to their communities and
environment as stewards of the land, while preserving one's
sense of autonomy and empowerment.
Veterans are aligned with the military values of survival
and self sufficiency that agriculture often requires. Self
sufficiency is important in a veteran's healing journey and can
decrease dependence on outside help, lessening the need for
continual therapy, interventions, and medication.
U.S. soldiers are adapting and improvising, using existing
skill sets from military training. To enlist veterans in
successful agribusiness endeavors will strengthen our veterans,
food systems, and local economies.
Across America and in communities like Central Oregon,
there is a growing interest in small scale agriculture, and how
niche markets and value-added products can contribute to
economic vitality. Veterans in our community are interested in
these endeavors but lack the knowledge and awareness of the
growing veteran farming movement and/or the USDA's efforts and
resources.
I recently sat with an Iraq combat veteran in my office and
had to clarify what the acronym ``USDA'' stood for, followed by
his comment, ``When I think of USDA, I think about meat.''
Promoting veteran endeavors in agriculture is a means of
increasing social capital as communities become safer and
healthier, and dependency on social services is decreased. It
is also a vehicle of therapy for those deemed unable to work by
the VA, who are seeking purpose and health in their every day
lives.
Newer models of veteran healthcare are integrating
agriculture as a means of bringing veterans together for
education, purpose, and peer support, creating new
opportunities and pathways of hope.
In Oregon, we are developing such an innovative model that
is changing veterans' lives. Central Oregon Veterans Ranch is a
1,900-acre working ranch that implements agriculture for both
vocational and therapeutic benefit. A unique component of our
program will be the integration of specialized end of life care
for up to five veterans and an adult foster home on the
property.
Thus far, the model's success is rooted and is focused on
peer support, intergenerational healing, and a system of
strategic community partnerships.
The ranch is currently run by an Iraq combat veteran, 100
percent medically retired from the military for post-traumatic
stress. Because of the ranch's mission to restore purpose and
spirit to veterans of all ages, this veteran has committed 3
years of his life without pay to this project.
Veterans coming out to work at the ranch find community and
comradery that they treasured while serving in the military and
relief from social isolation and the intrusive thoughts and
images that often haunt them.
Many veterans find meaning and purpose from contributing to
the development and management of the ranch and its programs,
including a female Air Force veteran who served as a combat
flight nurse in Iraq, and is taking the lead on developing
healthcare services for future residents.
The ranch also serves as a hub, a safe haven, and a non-
stigmatizing environment that provides support and resources
for veterans who may not reach out directly for help.
In the words of one veteran, a 38-year retired female Army
Colonel with five deployments, ``The ranch is a touchstone''
and ``Just knowing it is there is therapeutic.'' Colonel Pam is
spearheading a B project on the property and speaks of the
sense of pride and ownership that veterans feel as they develop
this agricultural land together.
On a more striking note, I have heard from at least three
veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress to traumatic
brain injury and addictions that the ranch has saved their
lives.
The message I would like to impart to you today is that
innovative programs like this that incorporate agriculture and
provide veterans a hub where they can learn, work, grow and
serve together are working to give them hope, healing, and new
pathways.
I am pleased to see that conversations about these types of
initiatives are taking place at the national level, and I hope
that we can work together to continue to develop and implement
these types of programs.
On behalf of the veterans I work with and serve, and as
founder of the Central Oregon Veterans Ranch, thank you for
this opportunity today.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Alison Perry
introduction
My name is Alison Perry and I'm here today to speak to you about
some of the challenging realities facing our nation's combat veterans,
and how innovative programs like Central Oregon Veterans Ranch are
integrating agriculture and changing veterans' lives.
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and family member of three
combat veterans spanning WWII to Iraq, and the Founder of the nonprofit
Central Oregon Veterans Ranch. I began working for the Department of
Veterans Affairs 2 years after my brother deployed for the invasion of
Iraq as an Apache helicopter pilot. I worked for 6 years as a trauma
therapist within the VA, treating primarily veterans diagnosed with
Post-Traumatic Stress, in both urban and rural settings. It was these
years of intensive clinical work that compelled me to influence our
current methods of veteran healthcare by developing innovative ways
that veterans can heal and continue to positively serve our nation.
givens
By now you are aware of the unacceptable statistics of 22 veteran
suicides a day, and the grim reality that we lose a veteran to suicide
in this nation every 19 minutes. Currently our veterans come home from
war, are discharged from the military, and face an existing healthcare
system that deems them disabled, wounded, unable to work, and is
limited in its scope of diagnosing and treating solely the symptoms of
combat trauma. Based on these ongoing alarming statistics, and the
years of direct clinical experience of therapists like myself, it is
evident that we are at a critical juncture in identifying innovative
approaches that address the complex dimensions of combat trauma,
including moral injury, identity issues, disillusionment, lack of
meaning and purpose, and confusion about how to move forward. The New
York Society for Ethical Culture states, ``Alongside the renewed
attention on complementary therapies for post-traumatic stress, there
is a growing understanding that treating acute trauma is only the first
stage of treatment. Any effective invention must also incorporate
structures for reintegrating veterans back into their families,
workplaces, and communities.''
All across the US today, priority is placed on agriculture whether
within urban settings or rural America. Emphasis is placed on utilizing
land in ways that optimizes food production while enhancing our
environmental health. I am here today to tell you that there is a third
dimension to our focus on agriculture--as a valuable tool to heal our
combat veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress, help them find peace, and
help them to re- enter civilian life successfully.
solutions
veteran health benefit
Agriculture is proving itself to be a viable therapeutic option for
veterans, effectively assisting in their transition into civilian
society. Veterans benefit from being outdoors, being engaged in
physical activity, strengthening themselves through work with purpose,
and interacting with the natural world.
Growing and caring for living things is curative for those who have
participated in war. The pace on a farm, built around the growing
seasons, is a contrast to the high-speed atmosphere of deployment. The
completion of concrete tasks in agriculture is be empowering and
therapeutic.
Additionally, agriculture provides a vehicle for meaning and
purpose for veterans in the local community. Agriculture is a means for
veterans to contribute to their communities and environment as stewards
of the land. Agriculture can preserve one's sense of autonomy and
empowerment. Veterans are aligned with the military values of survival
and self-sufficiency that agriculture requires.
Agribusiness entrepreneurship supports veteran self-sufficiency and
promises to help decrease dependence on outside help and lessens the
need for continual therapy, interventions, and medications. Self-
sufficiency is important in a veteran's healing journey for
strengthening internal resources and a healthy sense of autonomy.
economic/environmental benefit
Veterans recognize that small businesses and entrepreneurship are
important to the fabric and strength of small towns across the US. To
many veterans, helping revitalize communities through local economic
development is just as important a purpose as growing healthy food for
the community.
US soldiers are adept at adapting and improvising. Using existing
skill sets from military training to enlist veterans into successful
agribusiness endeavors will strengthen our veterans, food systems, and
local economies.
social/community benefit
Through the investment of veterans in agriculture, social capital
is increased as communities become safer and healthier. The alarming
rate of suicide, Post-Traumatic Stress, and related issues let us know
that innovative community-based approaches must be in place. Reducing
dependency on social services and providing realistic support to re-
enter society through new models of care is critical.
In Oregon we are developing an innovative model of healthcare that
is changing veterans' lives. Central Oregon Veterans Ranch is a 19-acre
working ranch that implements agriculture for both vocational and
therapeutic benefit. A unique component of our program will be the
integration of specialized end of life care for up to five veterans in
an Adult Foster Home on the property. Thus far, the model's success is
rooted in its focus on peer support, inter-generational healing, and a
system of strategic community partnerships. Veterans coming out to work
at the ranch find the community and camaraderie they treasured while
serving in the military, and relief from social isolation and the
intrusive thoughts and images that often haunt them. They find meaning
and purpose through contributing to the development and management of a
place that has become their own. The ranch also serves as a hub; a safe
haven and non-stigmatizing environment that provides support and
resources for veterans who may not reach out directly for help. In the
words of one veteran, a 38-year retired female Army COL with five
deployments, the ranch is a ``touchstone'', and ``just knowing it is
there istherapeutic''. More strikingly, I have heard from at least
three veterans, a female combat flight nurse, a six tour Marine
veteran, and an Iraq combat veteran, that the ranch has ``saved their
life''. The message I would like to impart to you today is that
innovative programs like this, that incorporate agriculture, are
working to save and improve our veterans' quality of life and our local
communities.
Thank you.
Senator Moran. Thank you for telling your story. I
appreciate it very much.
This is what you produce, Gary LaGrange, but it is not all
of what you produce, and I am glad you are here to tell your
story. You are the inspiration that caused me to have an
interest in this topic and in conducting this hearing, so thank
you very much for coming from Kansas, and we look forward to
your testimony.
STATEMENT OF GARY LaGRANGE, PRESIDENT, SOLDIER
AGRICULTURAL VOCATION EDUCATION, MANHATTAN,
KANSAS;
ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN ULRICK, CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 4, U.S. ARMY
Mr. LaGrange. Thank you for having me. I am deeply honored
to be here today to represent our Nation's veterans and
transitioning military servicemembers, in particular, the large
percentage of them who desire to enter agriculture and more
specifically, farming.
I wish to address two pressing national challenges and
present potential solutions to them. Our Nation has 1,500,000
veterans and 800,000 transitioning servicemembers soon to
become veterans. According to the Department of Labor, a
significant number of them, 40 percent or more, desire and wish
to find farming or farm related occupations, and a significant
number of them suffer with visible and invisible wounds of war.
I am one of them, having served multiple tours in Vietnam
and Laos during the war there, and having come out several
times on alert. My passion is to help them with programs now
that did not exist at that point in time. They deserve it.
Our Nation has a farm succession challenge with the average
age of our farmers approaching 60, 40 percent of our farms
owned and operated by farmers over 65, and 63 percent of our
farms in the last generation. There is a need for a million new
and younger farmers over the next 15 years, huge numbers, but
there is a gap between these two challenges that should be
bridged.
How can these veterans and servicemembers become farmers?
Given the scope and scale of the need, where can they go to
learn to be farmers? How can they find the resources that will
lead to farm ownership, how can they find the resources to
purchase expensive land and equipment? Where do they go to
learn?
Since many of them possess visible and invisible wounds of
war, how can they find therapy as they transition from one
culture to another?
The Service-member Agricultural Vocation Education, SAVE,
Program addresses that gap by providing transition assistant,
training, therapy, and succession assistance on a training
farm. Veterans and servicemembers will be prepared to work on,
manage, and one day own their own farm.
Our vision and plan is to develop a model training farm
that can be replicated on all land grant universities that will
graduate hundreds of farmers each year. Veteran and
servicemember students will learn a wide variety of farming
skills in a relatively short period of time.
Those in need of clinical care, physically or
psychologically, will have an on campus clinic to assist them
in their transition. The students and family members can live
on the farm campus for the full training cycle, and will also
be matched with a mentor farmer who is interested in hiring or
having a manager or selling his farm to them after graduation.
That will enable those graduates to move into farming upon
graduation and begin farming immediately, whether as a worker
or as an owner, a fully integrated transition, training,
therapy, and succession program.
This program offers a critical bridge from the security and
camaraderie of the military to the serenity and immersion
offered by farming, avoiding what can be a most debilitating
and often dangerous period following discharge.
Most importantly, it offers an opportunity for multiple
government agencies to coordinate for the betterment of
servicemen and women. That is something that is lacking at this
point.
Well, that farm has been designed and a team of
professionals are in the midst of developing its programs. The
board of directors of Service-member Agricultural Vocation
Education, which is now a public charitable 501(c)(3)
educational organization, and professionals from Kansas State
University are well on the way to making that farm a reality.
Sixteen graduate students from the College of Architecture
with the assistance from the College of Agriculture and a wide
body of advisors, including the Veterans Administration, have
worked together to design a 155-acre training farm contiguous
to Fort Riley and a few short miles from the university.
Sir, that is Marvin Hackmeister's farm. You may be familiar
with that person.
The farm has full spectrum with orchards, produce gardens,
bee colonies, training and research plots, and wheat, soybeans,
corn, grains sorghum, and alfalfa. There will be cattle, sheep,
goats, swine, horses, and a fleet of poultry, a shop to teach
general mechanics, metal working, welding, and woodworking, a
chapel, residences for 100 students and family members,
classrooms, a greenhouse with three high tunnels, a dining
facility with a commercial teaching kitchen, a commercial honey
producing facility, and a public center where customers can
pick their own produce and purchase other products of the farm.
The farm includes a certified clinic, staffed with clinical
psychologists and physical therapists capable of caring for 100
clients a week. Clients will consist of students on the farm
program and other veterans from the general population.
It is envisioned that with your support, the full class of
100 students and their family members could begin classes on
the farm during January of 2018, and in 3 years, this farm
should be able to reach self sufficiency.
All of the students will be trained first as an apprentice
level student, and then a journeyman level prior to farm
placement, and during their studies, they will be teamed with a
mentor and perhaps successor farmer where they will work
immediately thereafter.
As a pilot study, 50 soldiers from Fort Riley's Warrior
Transition Battalion were taught beekeeping by me over the past
3 years, a niche agricultural endeavor, beekeeping is critical,
of course, to the Nation's food supply.
Interest was very high with all soldiers completing the
basic beekeeping course and 12 becoming trained at a commercial
level. Further, these soldiers now have produced over 6,000
pounds of honey over the last 3 years, completely covering all
costs and growing the operation from 12 to 58 colonies, showing
that we can indeed even in that small niche become self
sufficient. New classes are underway.
The soldiers that engaged in the development of our
business plan and the design, and we had a whole team of them,
all with PTSD or brain injury, wanted an interim program so
that we could bring them along also until this farm could come
to fruition.
So, last year we began a farm tour program and we visited
with 28 students, 22 different farms and 12 governmental and
nine governmental farm agencies, granaries, COOPS, equipment
sales and service organizations, including a two full-day
session on farm planning, soil preparation, and produce
operations.
Each student was taken through a guide to business planning
for the farm. Results were so successful that we have continued
the program, and we just began our next round of tours on the
15th of March.
This year, the Veterans Administration has included their
clients with Wounded Warriors from Fort Riley. This year we
have also added equipment manufacturers and the KSU Drone
facility to our tour schedules, as well as several other high
value farms.
The SAVE farm with its integrated approach will enable
research to be conducted in multiple areas. Agricultural
research in that the farm is full spectrum and close to a major
land grant university. Research regarding farming for those
with physical disabilities can be accomplished partnering with
AgrAbility and equipment manufacturers, we will find new and
innovative modifications that can be tested to enable those
with disabilities to function as farmers.
Psychological research can more closely examine the
therapeutic effects of farming expanding the sparse knowledge
base extant today.
Today, we have engaged 82 soldiers and veterans, nearly all
are now farming, actively searching for a farm, enrolled in
agricultural college courses, or engaged in farming career
orientation. All of them suffer from physical or psychological
wounds. They are good, disciplined, intelligent, skillful
people that are ready and want to farm.
I have worked beside them, shared our home with them,
laughed with them, cried with them, prayed with them, and heard
their stories, shared their ups and downs, and they have become
my friends.
The SAVE Program in building a bridge that will lead them
to a full and purposeful life on the farm while addressing a
critical farm succession program, as one of our SAVE soldiers,
Chief Warrant Officer John Arthur Ulrick, a wounded warrior
with two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan, sitting
beside me today, states ``It is just the right thing to do.''
Thousands of veterans, transitioning soldiers and farmers
are aware of my testimony today. It is a little heavy, frankly.
They are hopeful that you will give them hope that this project
with your support can become a reality and a reality soon. They
await the results of this testimony.
Please help me to help them realize their dreams. We owe
them programs of substance in dealing with all these huge
numbers as they reintegrate into our farming communities.
Thank you for hearing me this day.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Gary L. LaGrange
I am deeply honored to be here today to represent our nation's
veterans and transitioning military service-members, in particular the
large percentage of them whom desire to enter agriculture and more
specifically farming.
I wish to address two pressing national challenges and present a
solution to them.
--Our nation has 1,500,000 veterans and 800,000 transitioning
service-members soon to become veterans. According to the
Department of Labor, a significant number of them wish to find
farming or farm related occupations and a significant number of
them suffer with visible and invisible wounds of war. I am one
of them.
--Our nation has a farm succession challenge. With the average age of
our farmers approaching 60, 40 percent of our farms owned and
operated by farmers over 65, and 63 percent of our farms in the
last generation, there is a need for 1,000,000 new and younger
farmers over the next 15 years.
There is a gap between the two challenges that must be bridged. How
can these veterans and service-members become farmers? Given the scope
and scale of the need, where can they go to learn to be farmers? How
can they find the resources that will lead to farm ownership? How can
they find the resources to purchase expensive land and equipment? Where
do they go to learn, and since many of them possess visible and
invisible wounds of war, how can they find therapy as they transition
from one culture to another?
The Service-member Agricultural Vocation Education (SAVE) program
addresses the gap. By providing transition assistance, training,
therapy and succession assistance on a training farm, veterans and
service members will be prepared to work on, manage and one day own a
farm of their own. Our vision and plan is to develop a model training
farm that can be replicated on all land grant universities that will
graduate hundreds of new farmers each year. Veteran and Service-member
students will learn a wide variety of farming skills in a relatively
short period of time. Those in need of clinical care, physically or
psychologically, will have an on campus clinic to assist them in their
transition. The students and family members can live on the farm campus
for the full training cycle. They will also be matched with a mentor
farmer who is interested in hiring a farm worker or selling his farm.
That will enable the graduates to move into farming upon graduation and
begin farming immediately, whether as a worker or as an owner; a fully
integrated transition, training, therapy and succession program.
This program offers a critical bridge from the security and
comradery of the military to the serenity and immersion offered by
farming, avoiding what can be a debilitating and oftendangerous period
following discharge. Most importantly, it offers an opportunity for
multiplegovernment agencies to coordinate for the betterment of
servicemen and women.
That farm has been designed and a team of professionals are in the
midst of developing its programs. The Board of Directors of Service-
member Agricultural Vocation Education (SAVE) Corp, a public charitable
501c3 educational organization, and professionals from Kansas State
University (KSU) are well on the way to making the farm a reality. 16
graduate students from the College of Architecture with assistance from
the College of Agriculture and a wide body of advisors including the
Veterans Administration worked together to design a 155 acre farm
contiguous to Fort Riley and a few short miles from the University. The
farm is full spectrum with orchards, produce gardens, bee colonies,
training and research plots of wheat, soy beans, corn, grain sorghum,
and alfalfa. There will be cattle, sheep, goats, swine, horses and
fleets of poultry; a shop to teach general mechanics, metal working,
welding and woodworking; a chapel, residences for 100 students and
family members, classrooms, a greenhouse with 3 high tunnels, a dining
facility with commercial teaching kitchen, a commercial honey producing
facility, and a public center where customers can pick their own
produce and purchase other products of the farm. The farm includes a
certified clinic staffed with clinical psychologists and physical
therapists capable of caring for 100 clients a week. Clients will
consist of students in the farm program and other veterans from the
general population. It is en visioned that, with your support, the
first full class of 100 students and their family members could begin
classes onthe farm during January of 2018 and in 3 years this farm
should be able to reach self-sufficiency.
a pilot study
As a pilot study, 50 soldiers from Fort Riley's Warrior Transition
Battalion were taught beekeeping over the past 3 years. A niche
agricultural endeavor, beekeeping is critical to the nation's food
supply. Interest was high with all soldiers completing basic beekeeping
and 12 becoming trained to the commercial level. Further, these
soldiers produced over 6000 pounds of honey completely covering all
costs and growing the operation from 12 to 58 colonies. New classes are
underway.
farm tours
The soldiers engaged in the development of the SAVE business plan
asked if an interim agricultural program could be developed for them. A
farm tour program was arranged and beginning with Agriculture Day of
2015, 28 students began touring farms of different types. Each Friday
for the following 120 days, soldiers toured 20 high value farms, 12
governmental and non-governmental farm agencies, granaries, COOPS,
equipment sales and service organizations including 2 full day sessions
on farm planning, soil preparation and produce operations. Each student
was taken through a Guide to Business Planning for the farm. The
results were so successful that the next round of tours began on 15
March 2016. The Veteran's Administration includes regional clients with
this round of tours. Equipment manufacturers andthe KSU Drone facility
have been added to the tour schedules as well as several additional
high value farms.
research
The SAVE Farm with its integrated approach will enable research to
be conducted in multiple areas. Agricultural research in that the farm
is full spectrum and close to a major university. Research regarding
farming for those with physical disabilities can be accomplished.
Partnering with AgrAbility and equipment manufacturers, new and
innovative modifications can be tested to enable those with
disabilities to function as farmers. Psychological research can more
closely examine the therapeutic effects of farming expanding the sparse
knowledge base extant today. To date we have engaged 82 soldiers and
veterans. Nearly all are now farming, actively searching for a farm,
enrolled in agricultural college courses, or engaged in farming career
orientation. All of them suffer from physical or psychological wounds.
They are good, disciplined, intelligent, skillful men and women who
want to farm. I have worked beside them, shared our home with them,
laughed and cried with them, heard their stories, shared their ups and
downs and they have become my friends.
The SAVE program, in building a bridge that will lead them to a
full and purposeful life on the farm while addressing a critical farm
succession program, is as one of our SAVE soldiers, CW4John Ulrick,
sitting beside me here today states, ``just the right thing to do''.
Thousands of veterans, transitioning soldiers and farmers are aware
of my testimony today. They are hopeful that you will give them hope
that this project, with your support, can become a reality and become a
reality soon. They await the results of this testimony. Please help me
to help them realize their dreams. We owe them programs of substance as
they reintegrate into our farming communities.
Thank you. www.thesavefarm.org
Senator Moran. Thank you for allowing us to hear you. I
think it may be most sensitive to go to Mr. Ulrick next. Mr.
Ulrick, welcome. My only concern is that you left Kansas. We
are surprised that you decided to find another home in another
State. We appreciate your service at Fort Riley.
STATEMENT OF JOHN ARTHUR ULRICK, CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER
4, U.S. ARMY
Mr. Ulrick. Good afternoon, Senator, and subcommittee
members. I want to personally thank Gary LaGrange for asking me
to be here today. One of my lifelong dreams was an opportunity
to come to Washington, DC, and speak to some of our government
people, and I come here today with a very humble heart.
I think we can and will through the SAVE farm help restore
the American dream for many soldiers and veterans. Many
soldiers have paid the price for the freedom, and they have
done this in both direct and indirect, carrying scars that
interfere with family, lives, and being productive in civilian
life.
I thought for a long time of how I could put into words how
the soldiers feel. I could not put it into words. Excuse me. I
thought for a long time of how I could put it into words how
many of the soldiers feel after being exposed to war or
stationed away from their families, and could not come up with
the right words.
If you have lost a child, you would know the loss. It stays
with you every day, every minute, until you learn to accept and
understand the loss. If you have never been in war, you would
never be able to feel the emotions of these soldiers. As you
know, many soldiers come back from deployment seeing the world
in a different way.
I was sent to Fort Riley with several medical issues from
my four deployments with the United States Army. I injured my
neck and could not lift my arms above my shoulders, had lung
issues, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, the
stress of war.
I had to have surgery and was deemed unfit for continued
duty with the Army. Many of the thoughts I had was what am I
going to do now, what is it going to be like without the
military in my life.
I met Gary LaGrange a few weeks after I arrived at Fort
Riley. Gary had a class to learn and work with honey bees, and
I thought to myself, I will try it, and found that the class
helped me to think about something positive and learn something
new. During this time, Gary started talking to me about how he
wants to set up a farm for soldiers to learn farming.
The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a
program that would rebuild healthy lives for people. After
thinking about his program for several weeks, the light went
off in my head. I could not think of a better thing for
soldiers to do that would keep them in charge of their lives
and operate a business that is a way of life. I started
thinking about what classes he should have, and what types of
machinery, livestock, and how the overall operation would work.
The thoughts gave me a new outlook on the rest of my life
and how I could use what I have learned to help others. I spent
32 years, 10 months, 16 days of my life serving my country, and
was forced to retire. For those years, I put the military at
the top of my list, and I hate to say this, I put it before
everything, always wanting to defend my country and our way of
life.
Yes, I worked hard during my life and own a farm in
Minnesota, and now I am using my knowledge to help others
leaving the military to live a healthy productive life.
I am looking forward to being the first farm manager. After
all, farmers feed the world, and it takes people that can do
all to be good farmers. If you do not help these people become
farmers, who will feed the world in a few short years? I
believe this is a good thing to do, and we must find a way to
get it done.
I would like to close with a quote from somebody that I
admired when I was young and still do. ``God's work must surely
be our own,'' and I do believe this is God's work. I welcome
your questions.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of John Arthur Ulrick
Good afternoon, I would like to thank Gary LaGrange for asking me
to be here today. One of my life long dreams was the opportunity to
come to Washington D.C. for business and speak to members of our
government. I come here today with a humble heart.
I think we can and will, through the S.A.V.E farm, help restore the
American dream for many soldiers and veterans. Many soldiers have paid
the price for the freedom, they have done this both directly and
indirectly, carrying scars that interfere with their family lives and
being productive in civilian life. I thought for a long time of how I
could put into words how many of the soldiers feel after being exposed
to war or stationed away from their families and could not come up with
the right words. If you have lost a child you would know that loss if
you have not you just don't know the loss, it stays with you every day
and every minute until you learn to except and understand the loss. If
you have never been in war you would not be able to feel the emotions
of these soldiers.
As you know many soldiers come back from deployments seeing the
world in a different way. Many have deep depressions that keep them
from entering back into society and fitting well and adjusted. We can
see that many take their lives because of adjustment issues. I believe
we can restore the basic thoughts and goals of the American Dream.
Freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity, success and to achieve
through hard work in a society with few barriers.
Many soldiers do not make the change from being a soldier to being
a civilian very well; many have struggles because they have been in
positions of leadership, being in charge of many operational needs of
the military that do not directly transfer to civilian jobs and life
style.
It has been proven that working with livestock is like having a
service dog as a companion. People taking the courses at the S.A.V.E.
farm will be able to learn a new way of life that uses all the things
they have been taught about scheduling, planning, managing and being in
charge of their lives.
I was asked here today to explain how this program helped me during
my time in the wounded warrior unit at Ft Riley, Kansas, during the
years of 2014-2015.
I was sent to Ft Riley with several medical issues from my four
deployments with the US Army. I injured my neck and could not lift my
arms above my shoulders, lung issues and was suffering from P.T.S.D.,
the stresses of war. I had to have surgery and was deemed unfit for
continued duty with the Army. Many of the thoughts I had was what I am
going to do now, what is it going to be like without the military in my
life. I meet Gary LaGrange a few weeks after I arrived at Ft. Riley.
Gary had a class to learn and work with Honey Bees, and I thought to
myself, I will try it, and found that the class helped me to think
about something positive and learn something new. During this time Gary
started talking with me about how he wants to set up a farm for
soldiers to learn farming. The more I thought about it the more I
thought it was a program that would rebuild healthy lives for people.
After thinking about his program for several weeks, the light went
off in my head, and I could not think of a better thing for soldiers to
do that would keep them in charge of their lives and operate a business
that is a way of life. I started thinking about what classes he should
have, what types of machinery, livestock and how the overall operation
would work. The thoughts gave me a new outlook on the rest of my life
and how I could use what I have learned to help others.
I spent 32 years 10 months and 16 days of my life serving my
country and was forced to retire. For those years I put the military at
the top of my list and I hate to say before everything always wanting
to defend my country and our way of life.
Yes I worked hard during my life and own a farm in Minnesota, and
now I am using my knowledge to help others leaving the military to live
a healthy productive life.
I am looking forward to being the first farm manager.
After all farmers feed the world and it takes people that can do it
all to be good farmers? If we don't help these people become farmers,
who will feed the world in a few short years?
I believe this is a good thing to do and we must find a way to get
it done.
I would like to close with a quote from John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
``God's work must surely be our own,'' and I believe this is God's
work.
I welcome your questions.
Senator Moran. Mr. Ulrick, thank you very much for your
testimony.
Mr. Kanning.
STATEMENT OF PAUL KANNING, OWNER/OPERATOR, TOM TILDA
FARM, FLAXVILLE, MONTANA
Mr. Kanning. Thank you, chairman, members of the
subcommittee for the opportunity to testify here today about
military veteran benefits.
Prior to my current career, I served as an Active Duty
officer for 20 years in the Air Force, retiring in 2013. My
service included assignments to 10 military installations, five
combat deployments to Southwest Asia, including an 1 year tour
in Iraq with the Coalition Air Force advisory team. I was a
squadron commander twice, a deputy commander of a fighter
maintenance unit, and retired as the senior ranking sustainment
officer for the F-22 program.
I used to be somebody important. Today, I am a farmer. I am
the owner and operator of Tom Tilda Farm in Daniels County,
Montana. I am the fourth generation of my family to operate the
farm, which is now 103 years old.
I am often amazed that I own and operate this farm. As a
young man, my sole ambition was to find a way off of it, and to
find success out in the greater world. I decided I needed to go
to college to achieve that goal, but because I could not afford
to pay for college, I enrolled in and was awarded a scholarship
by the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Program.
Through ROTC, I obtained my degree at Montana State University
and got commissioned as an Air Force officer.
Approximately halfway through my military career, I began
to think about what I would do after retiring from the
military. In 2003, during the initial campaign of Operation
Iraqi Freedom, I suddenly realized my aspiration was to be a
farmer.
I then spent the next 10 years of my military career
working as hard as I could to get back onto that place that I
wanted to leave so desperately to begin with.
Many of my fellow servicemembers were surprised to learn of
my military to farming aspiration. However, there are numerous
similarities between the two professions. Both are comprised of
honest, reliable, trustworthy people who value integrity. Both
professions entail service to a higher calling, either through
defending our Nation or providing food for the same. Both have
leadership as a key element to success.
Both professions are meritocracies, offering great
opportunities regardless of race, color, or creed. Both involve
a great level of risk and adventure. Both require dedication,
discipline, and a willingness to sacrifice for achieving
success. Finally, mission accomplishment in both culminates in
the production of a tangible and highly valued product, freedom
and food.
Because of these similarities, it was only natural I would
be drawn to agriculture following my military service. During
my transition to my farming career, I faced obstacles which
many beginning farmers confront. I also seized on many
opportunities to alleviate those challenges. My status as a
veteran afforded me benefits in some situations, while others
were addressed through means available to any beginning farmer.
I would be happy to talk about the many programs that I
turned to, including the farm bill commodity titles, crop
insurance, the Beginning Farmer/Rancher Development Program
grants, and the outreach and assistance programs for socially
disadvantaged farmers.
In conclusion, I am honored to have the opportunity to farm
in rural America. I am honored to provide high quality food to
America. While I used to assist in preserving national security
as a member of the military, today I assist in that same effort
by providing food security for our citizens.
I again thank the members for the honor of testifying about
the benefits and programs available to military veterans in
agriculture, and I am happy to answer any questions you may
have.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Paul Kanning
Thank you Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Merkley, and members of
the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies for the opportunity to testify on
the opportunities and benefits available to military veterans in
agriculture.
I am the owner and operator of TomTilda Farm in Daniels County,
Montana. I am the fourth generation of my family to operate the farm,
which is now 103 years old. The farm of just over 11,700 acres produces
small grains (spring wheat), pulses (peas, lentils, faba beans), and
oilseeds (flax, canola). I am in my fourth production year on the farm,
having started in 2013.
Prior to initiating my farm career, I served as an active duty
officer for twenty (20) years inthe U.S. Air Force, retiring as a
Lieutenant Colonel in 2013. My service included assignments to ten (10)
military installations and five (5) combat deployments to Southwest
Asia, including a 1- year tour in Iraq with the Coalition's advisory
team to the Iraqi Air Force. I was a squadron commander of two aircraft
maintenance units, deputy commander of a fighter maintenance group, and
the senior-ranking sustainment officer for the F-22 program office.
I am often amazed that I own and operate the farm which I grew up
on. As a young man, my sole ambition was to find a way off of the farm
and find success out in the larger world. I decided that attending
college was the best means to achieve that goal. Because I could not
afford to pay for college, I enrolled in and was awarded a scholarship
by the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. Through
ROTC, I was able to obtain my degree at Montana State University and
get commissioned as an Air Force officer.
Approximately half way through my military career, I began to think
about what I would do after retiring from the military. Then in 2003,
while engaged in the initial campaign of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I
suddenly realized my aspiration was to be a farmer. I then spent the
next ten (10) years of my military service working as hard as I could
to become a farmer.
Finally, in 2013, my dream was achieved and I have never been more
content in my choice of profession.
Many of my fellow service members were surprised to learn of my
military-to-farming aspiration. However, there are numerous
similarities between the two professions. Both are comprised of honest,
reliable, and trustworthy people who place a high value on integrity.
Both professions entail service to a higher calling, either through
defending our nation or providing food for the same. Both have
leadership as a keystone element to success. Both professions are
meritocracies, offering great opportunities regardless of race, color,
or creed. Both involve a great level of risk and adventure. Both
professions require dedication, discipline, and a willingness to
sacrifice personal goals in exchange for achieving success. And
finally, mission accomplishment in both culminates in the production of
a tangible and highly valued product--freedom and food. Because of
these professional similarities, it was only natural I would be drawn
to agriculture following my military service.
During my transition to my farming career, I faced obstacles which
many beginning farmers confront. I also seized on many opportunities to
alleviate those challenges. My status as a military veteran afforded me
benefits in many situations, while others were addressed through means
available to all beginning farmers.
veteran-related benefits utilized
Veteran Farmer/Rancher Recognition in the Agriculture Act of 2014
Recognition of ``Veteran Farmers'' as a distinct class in the
Agriculture Act of 2014 (Farm Bill) provided numerous new benefits.
While the definition is essentially the same as that for beginning
farmers and ranchers, this new classification afforded additional USDA
program priorities to veterans.
Veteran Preference and Priorities
The USDA is required to set aside a portion of the acres available
for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for beginning and
socially-disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Under the 2014 Farm Bill,
a preference must be given to veterans that fall within one of these
set-aside categories. Veterans now receive points when applying for the
program which are in addition to any points granted for being a
beginning or socially-disadvantaged farmer. This preference allowed me
to qualify and enroll TomTilda Farm in CSP in 2014. This significantly
helped me to obtain additional farm revenue while also providing a
great incentive to conserve my critical land resources. I encourage
Congress to support the President's request of no limitations on
mandatory funding for Farm Bill conservation programs.
Microloan Assistance
The 2014 Farm Bill specifically excludes microloans used by
veterans from the term limits applied to other USDA Direct Operating
Loans. In addition, the legislation also allows veterans to choose
between the microloan interest rate (set at 5 percent) or the regular
interest rate for USDA operating loans. I am currently in the process
of applying for a microloan to assist in the purchase of new capital
equipment for TomTilda Farm.
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Grant
The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP)
provides grants to organizations providing training, education,
outreach, and technical assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers.
Under the 2014 Farm Bill, assistance for veterans is made a priority
under the BFDRP by specifically including ``agricultural rehabilitation
and vocational training'' as an eligible service and by providing a 5
percent set-aside of BFRDP funding for programs serving veterans.
I have benefited greatly from programs funded through BFRDP grants.
For example, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program through Montana
State University provided me training in commodity price risk
management, farm income tax management, acquiring farm financial
credit, and USDA program overviews.
In addition, Montana State University partnered with Montana Grain
Growers Association to provide additional training through the use of
these grant funds. This allowed me to participate in an intermediate
grain marketing strategy workshop, gain farm bill program training, and
obtain membership in the Montana Grain Growers Association.
Because of the significant training I have received through BFRDP
grants, I encourageCongress to continue funding the Beginning Farmer
and Rancher Development Program.
Outreach and Assistance Program for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and
Ranchers
The Outreach and Assistance Program for Socially Disadvantaged
Farmers and Ranchers, commonly referred to as the 2501 Program, was
expanded to include veterans. This allows the USDA to provide
additional technical assistance to veterans focused on enabling farm
ownership and operation as well as outreach to encourage participation
in USDA programs.
Specifically for me, this benefit was realized through the Farmer
Veteran Coalition (FVC). The FVC has provided access to a large network
of other veteran farmers, provided me with numerous training and
education opportunities, and enabled my certification in the nation-
wide ``Homegrown By Heroes'' agriculture marketing label program. I
encourage Congress to meet the President's request of $10 million in
discretionary funding for the 2501 program in fiscal year 2017 in order
to restore total program funding to its previous total funding level of
$20 million. This appropriation would restore total program funding to
its historical level in order to meet the increased demand for outreach
and technical assistance by veterans.
Land Transition Incentives
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Transition Incentive Program
(TIP) provides owners of land coming out of CRP with additional program
payments if they lease or sell the land to a beginning farmers,
including veterans. While I have not yet participated in this
outstanding program, I am actively seeking an opportunity to do so.
Military Retirement Income
As a retired officer, I am blessed with an advantageous source of
non-farm income through my military retirement. While many of my
farming peers are forced to obtain a second job to assist in paying
family living expenses, I am able to cover those expenses through my
retirement pay. This allows me to focus solely on farm management and
operations.
Military Healthcare
Likewise, I am also blessed with a healthcare plan as part of my
military retirement which significantly reduces my living expenses.
Although not a member of the Veterans Affairs healthcare system, I am
enrolled in the military TRICARE Standard program which requires
nopremium payment. Additionally, dental care is provided through the
TRICARE Retiree DentalProgram at a significantly reduced premium.
Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program
The Transition Assistance Program (TAP) was established to meet the
needs of separating service members during their period of transition
into civilian life by offering job-search assistance and related
services. Through TAP, I participated in the Entrepreneurial Module
which provided outstanding training and assistance as I established my
farm business.
non-veteran related benefits utilized
USDA Conservation Programs
In addition to enrollment in CSP as previously mentioned, my farm
also has acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). As
stated previously, I encourage Congress to fully fund all USDA
Conservation Programs. Through CRP, I have been able to keep
environmentally-sensitive land out of agricultural production while
planting valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent
soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat. However, the 2014
Farm Bill and sequestration have cut over $6 billion from conservation
programs.
USDA Agricultural Risk Coverage Program
TomTilda Farm is enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC)
Program. I encourage Congress to fully fund staffing requirements of
local USDA offices for management of Farm Bill programs. The benefits
of the ARC program are critical to my continued farming operation. This
safety net provides revenue loss coverage in years when I may be unable
to pay all of my operating expenses due to weather-related crop
failures or commodity price deflation. In addition to management of
ARC, local USDA offices provide outstanding advice to veteran farmers
such as me. This critical service must continue.
In addition, I am certain USDA will seek to reduce and/or
consolidate local offices in the future. Proponents will advocate the
use of technology as a replacement for local USDA officials. However,
the lack of broadband Internet service in rural America, the many
elderly farmers who are not proficient in utilizing computer services,
and the lack of personal interaction with USDA officials will
undoubtedly lead to lack of service and missed opportunities. I
encourage Congress to resist any future attempts to reduce and/or
consolidate local community USDA offices.
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Benefits for Federal Crop Insurance
Beginning farmers are eligible for additional Federal Crop
Insurance benefits under the 2014Farm Bill. Because of this, I was able
to obtain an additional ten (10) percentage points of premium subsidy
for my multi-peril crop insurance. This is a significant cost reduction
in one of the programs that is the most critical to my continued
success as a farmer. Without affordable crop insurance, I will be
unable to obtain an operating loan and unable to pay my expenses in
disaster years. Therefore, in addition to sustaining this benefit to
beginning farmers, I further encourage Congress to fully fund crop
insurance programs and to restore the President's proposed $18 billion
cut to crop insurance.
Additional Training and Education Programs
Through the National Farmers Union, I was able to participate in
the Beginning Farmer Institute which includes educational seminars,
farm and cooperative tours, meetings with USDA and Congressional staff
personnel, and opportunities to participate in Farmers Union
activities. The program is funded by the National Farmers Union
Foundation, Farm Credit Council, Cenex Harvest States Foundation,
CoBank, and Farmers Union Industries Foundation. While I do not know
specifically why my application to this program was successful, I am
inclined to believe my status as a military veteran was a significant
influence.
USDA Rural Development Grants
A significant factor in enticing veterans into agriculture is the
viability of rural communities. Specifically, the families of veterans
want to live in communities with a strong school system, reliable
healthcare delivery, adequate business services, and sufficient
recreational opportunities. USDA Rural Development Grants are crucial
to ensuring the continued viability of each of these. I encourage
Congress to fully fund staffing all state Rural Development offices.
Specifically in Montana, the staffing of these offices has been reduced
from 58 to 43 personnel in recent years. The closest office to my
community is located 350 miles away in Billings, Montana.
Simply put, the combination of insufficient staffing and a large
coverage area leads to reduced program effectiveness for communities
such as mine.
Agriculture Research Programs
Because of outstanding past research in agriculture research, I
have been able to grow high- yielding crops which are resistant to pest
pressures. Continued research is critical to continuing to improve
yields and ensuring food security for America. Specifically, I
encourage Congress to provide the full $10 million of funding for the
US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative in order to help fight scab
pressures which have extended into Montana. In addition, I encourage
Congressional oversight to ensure USDA continues to prioritize research
into crop pests at research facilities such as that at the Northern
Plains Agriculture Research Lab in Sidney, Montana.
additional recommendations
USDA Farm Loan Programs
Through Direct Farm Ownership Loans, beginning farmers are able to
obtain low-interest loans to purchase farmland, construct buildings,
and make farm improvements. Currently the maximum loan amount is
$300,000. However, with recent price increases in farm real estate,
this amount is often insufficient. Therefore, I encourage Congress to
increase the limit to assist beginning farmers and ranchers in
purchasing land in areas with high real estate values. In addition, I
encourage Congress to increase funding for Direct Operating Loans from
$1.25 billion to $1.46 billion, in line with the President's request,
so that future veteran farmers can access capital critical to their
farm operations.
Outreach Services Supporting New, Beginning, and Veteran Farmers and
Ranchers
The President proposed $5 million for USDA enhanced outreach to
beginning, women, and military veteran farmers. This funding would be
provided to the Office of the Secretary, but could be transferred to
other agencies in USDA as needed.
New, Beginning, and Veteran Farmer and Ranch Initiatives
The President proposed $3.9 million for targeted outreach by USDA
to those interested in getting into farming. It will include a
certification program to help veteran farmers prequalify for loans, 25
new full-time staff devoted to providing outreach, a pilot new farmer
mentoring network that includes stipends for 200 mentors, and funding
for cooperative agreements which support organizations in providing
assistance and outreach.
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Pilot
Program
In addition to loans, the Administration's beginning farmer
proposals include first-time funding of $1.5 million for the Beginning
Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account (IDA) Program. The
IDA program has not received an appropriation in years past and thus
has not yet been launched as directed in the last two Farm Bills.
In conclusion, I am honored to have the opportunity to farm in
rural America, providing high- quality food. While I used to assist in
preserving national security as a member of the military, today I
assist in that same effort by providing food security for our citizens.
I again thank the members for the honor of testifying about the
benefits and programs available to military veterans in agriculture.
Senator Moran. Thank you very much, Mr. Kanning. Let me
start with Mr. Baccam. Mr. Secretary, could you outline for us
what programs are available at the Department of Agriculture
that might assist the folks that you just heard testify, assist
them, assist veterans? If you would like to highlight
provisions of the President's budget request that would alter
or enhance those opportunities, I would like for the
subcommittee to hear that.
Mr. Baccam. Senator, thank you for that question. Within
this space, USDA has really taken off in recent years, and that
is thanks to the military veterans agricultural liaison
position that was created in the 2014 farm bill. With our
agencies all across the Department, we have an ability to
direct our resources to be able to have a stronger focus on
supporting veterans.
Through many of our agencies, we have programs to do
exactly that. The Beginning Farmer/Rancher Development Program
in our National Institute of Food and Agriculture is a grant
program that helps provide funding for organizations that will
do outreach, education, and training for veterans.
There is a [5 percent] set-aside within that program for
any organization that has all or in part states that will
assist veterans, so the Beginning Farmer/Rancher Development
Program is key for us.
For folks who are interested in getting into farming and
ranching starting off, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is one of
the key places we go. First off, the Farm Service Agency has a
footprint that spans across the United States. We have over
2,100 offices, and we can provide in-person service to the
veterans who are out there in the rural communities.
With our Loans Program, we have over $465 million in farm
loans that we have put out there since 2009 that have helped
almost 7,000 veterans. We think this is really impressive, and
$25 million of those dollars were through the Micro, a direct
operating microloan program, which is good for the new
beginning farmers who are just starting off. For Mr. Kanning
who has a large operation, he has the opportunity to apply for
these programs as well.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has
programs in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) that have
priority preferences for veterans.
These are just a few of the many, many programs and support
we have through our agencies within USDA.
As for the President's budget, there is one thing in
particular I would like to highlight, and that is the FARM-Vets
proposal, and the Food and Agriculture Resilience Program for
Military Veterans. It is a $2.5 million proposal for an
education and training program that will assist veterans in
helping them gain the skills needed to get into farming and
ranching.
Beyond that, as Ms. Perry has noted in her organization,
there is a therapeutic aspect to it as well. FARM-Vets will do
some research into the therapeutic value of farming and
ranching, psychologically, behaviorally, which is a limited
space in terms of research that exists currently. We would like
it done.
Lastly, the Office of Advocacy and Outreach has a proposal
for an additional $10 million for outreach programs that we
believe will continue to assist veterans.
Mr. Kanning, I think, knows about the 2501 Program, which
we believe has been very successful. If 2014 and 2015 are
indications, over 50 percent of the grants each year have gone
to organizations that have helped veterans.
If we are able to get the additional funding, we believe we
can double the assistance out there.
Senator Moran. I want to highlight or question the point
because I think in the first part of your answer to my
question, it was individual farmers who could be helped with
USDA programs, and if you would again indicate to me and to the
subcommittee what assistance can the USDA provide to
organizations trying to help farmers, individuals become
farmers?
Mr. Baccam. Senator, thank you for that question. It is the
Beginning Farmer/Rancher Development Program, which provides
grants to community organizations, organizations of higher
education, universities, as well as the cooperative agreements
that we have with many veteran services organizations, like the
Farmer Veteran Coalition.
I think a lot of the folks up here are familiar with that,
and you may be as well. We provide these cooperative agreements
to be able to do risk management training, business planning,
for veterans. The organizations will execute those types of
educational programs for us.
Senator Moran. Thank you for your answer. Before I lose any
of my members, I am going to next call on the ranking member,
but I wanted to highlight a Senate bill that I introduced and
Senator Tester is a sponsor of, it is Senate bill 1870 entitled
``Veterans Entrepreneur Transition Act.''
This bill was passed by the Small Business Committee last
year, and we are anxious for it to be considered and anxious
for any of my colleagues who are supportive of this concept to
join us in sponsoring this bill.
It is a 3-year pilot program through the Small Business
Administration (SBA) for 250 veterans to pursue the opportunity
to start a business, to be an entrepreneur, utilizing their
G.I. Bill of Rights. This requires some training through the
SBA in entrepreneurship and helps them phase in that training
by offering collateral to launch their business through the
G.I. benefits. Again, it would have application in agriculture
if given the opportunity, but another avenue that we are
actively pursuing.
Let me now turn to Senator Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to apologize
now that I will have to leave at 3:30, so this will be the only
round of questions I will be able to be a part of.
Ms. Perry, have you currently benefited from any of the
veterans programs or farming programs that Mr. Baccam has
mentioned?
Ms. Perry. Thank you for the question. I am sad to say the
answer is no. We are in close communication with our local USDA
office. We have had several meetings talking about the Farm
Service Agency and actually the Beginning Farmer/Rancher
Program, where we have run into issues that we are an
organization, we are not an individual veteran, so we have
actually sat in meetings where somebody said well, maybe one of
your veterans could apply for a loan and buy the property.
We just sort of have not found the avenues, and perhaps
that is simply because it is a bureaucracy, but we are really
looking for ways that we can work together and be supported as
an organization because we would like to be a hub. We would
like to be a resource hub. We would like to be that sort of
front entry for veterans who may have an interest either
vocationally or who are drawn out to the ranch because of the
therapeutic aspect and the comradery, so we really view
agriculture as a vehicle.
We are still working on ways that USDA can help us.
Senator Merkley. Mr. Baccam, I will not take the time now
but can you follow up with us in terms of brainstorming about
that particular obstacle and how groups which are really
leveraging their resources to help many veterans might be
eligible for some of these programs?
Mr. Baccam. Yes, Mr. Ranking Member, I would be happy to do
that.
[The information follows:]
USDA has been promoting a three pillar approach to helping veterans
who are interested in the business of agriculture which include: help
veterans who are interested in farming and ranching; imbue veterans
with the knowledge of farming and ranching and the agricultural
industry; and help veterans when they are in need.
Becoming Farmers and Ranchers
Several USDA agencies provide access to land, capital, and
opportunities to veterans who are interested in becoming farmers and
ranchers.
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) assists veterans with a two-pronged
approach to becoming a farmer or rancher. FSA programs focus on the
loans that make it possible for veterans to begin the work of farming
and ranching as well as programs to promote the ownership of land.
Since 2009 FSA has helped to provide $466 million in farm loans to
veterans through Direct and Guaranteed Loans. Utilizing the direct loan
programs and promoting their availability to veterans ensure that
veterans are able to successfully enter the farming and ranching
business. The fiscal year 2017 budget proposal requested an increase of
$208 million for the direct operating loan program to be targeted for
veteran farmers for a portion of the fiscal year to fund loans for
approximately 3,800 veterans. Additionally, the fiscal year 2017 Budget
proposes a fee waiver for the guaranteed operating loan program as well
as a $90,000 increase for new, beginning and veteran farmers and
ranchers to support a certified training program to pre-qualify for all
veterans to be pre-qualified for the FSA direct ownership loans upon
completion of a program.
FSA also helps with making land available for ownership. FSA
implements the Transition Incentives Program (TIP) which is part of the
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). TIP is designed to help beginning
farmers and ranchers--including veterans--find access to land. Retiring
farmers with expiring CRP contracts can receive 2 years' worth of
additional rental payments for leasing or selling land to beginning
farmers and ranchers which is inclusive of veterans. In addition, the
CRP Grasslands program allots additional ranking points for veterans,
when determining which grasslands to accept into CRP.
Another FSA program is Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program
(NAP), which provides financial assistance to producers of non-
insurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory, or prevented
planting occurs due to natural disasters. FSA waives the application
fee for the NAP for applicants with limited resources, or beginning, or
socially-disadvantaged, farmers, and ranchers, including veterans. FSA
also reduces premiums on NAP buy-up coverage for limited resource,
beginning, and socially-disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including
veterans.
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) administers
the Agricultural Management Assistance Program (AMA), Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and Conservation Stewardship Program
(CSP). Each program gives specific preference to eligible veteran
farmers and ranchers, and EQIP and CSP provide specific prioritization
of veteran farmers and ranchers within the beginning farmer and rancher
special funding pools. AMA and EQIP provide specific benefits for a
veteran farmer or rancher to allow them to be eligible to receive a
higher payment rate. Since 2014, NRCS has funded nearly 3,300 contracts
and provided over $54.6 million to veterans through AMA, EQIP, and CSP.
Through Rural Development (RD), veterans can access Value Added
Producer Grants which support producers in ventures that will increase
the return on their agriculture commodities through value-added
projects. This program is designed to assist expansion of business at
all stages.
Obtaining Training and Knowledge
USDA's funding and support is key to the training programs for
veterans who are interested in farming and ranching, giving them a
network and support system to make their ideas a reality.
Key to veterans in agriculture is programs that help train veterans
to be successful in an agricultural business. Rural Development, USDA's
Office of Advocacy and Outreach, and the National Institute of Food and
Agriculture have created programs to ensure the success of helping
veterans train for jobs in the agricultural industry.
The National Center for Appropriate Technology, through funding
from USDA, runs the Armed to Farm program, which is veteran-specific
training, consisting of a week long program. This program consistently
receives high marks from veterans who have completed the training. The
program connects veterans with USDA and extension services which are
essential for any beginning farmers or ranchers. The skills that are
taught in the Armed to Farm program are key to giving veterans a strong
foundation in farming and the basic principles of ranching. The program
touches upon everything from the creation of business plans and
financial management to marketing assistance and making each veteran
farmer's goals a defined reality.
Two other key programs for veteran training is the Beginning Farmer
and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) and AgrAbility. BFRDP provides
grants to organizations for education training and technical assistance
that is designed to help new farmers and those looking to begin
farming. BFRDP has received $20 million annually in discretionary
funding and has a 5 percent set aside for organizations that all or in
part serve veterans. AgrAbility is focused on education and assistance
to eliminate or minimize the challenges that disabled farmers and
ranchers face. This is essential for veterans who have an interest in
farming and ranching but may need special assistance due to injuries
sustained during their time in the military. AgrAbility makes grants to
organizations that provide assistance to those with disabilities.
Getting Help
USDA's mission to help veteran includes housing and food assistance
through the Rural Housing Service (RHS) and Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS).
RHS is a strong loan provider for veterans and their families. With
more than 12,000 direct and guaranteed loans to purchase single family
homes and more than 1,700 grants for making home repairs since 2009,
RHS provides veterans with the loans necessary to purchase their first
homes and make necessary improvements. In addition, repair grants have
helped with accessibility enhancements at their homes that otherwise
would shut them out of the farming and ranching community. With over
$1.3 billion in obligations for Single Family Housing for veterans
since 2009, RHS has provided important loan abilities for veterans in
rural communities.
In addition to housing services, USDA also supports veterans
through FNS food assistance programs. When a veteran is food insecure,
FNS has programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or
Women, Infant, and Children, which veterans can access. FNS, along with
MAZON, an anti-hunger organization, provided an accredited continuing
education seminar for more than 12,000 Veterans Administration social
workers and dietitians regarding the purpose of SNAP, the eligibility
requirements, and application process. In funding initiatives like
this, USDA is ensuring that veterans gain the most benefit from
services and programs that are available to them.
USDA Veterans Initiatives are key to providing access, education,
and help to veterans who want to be in the farming and ranching
business. The agricultural industry will continue to grow, and with
veterans skills, discipline and desire to continue to serve their
country, it is an industry where they will be welcomed with open arms.
Senator Merkley. Thank you. Ms. Perry, you mentioned
several elements of how the farming or ranching experience is
relevant to our veterans in terms of the structure. You
mentioned outdoors work, physical work, completion of concrete
tasks, caring for living things.
I am imagining that another element might be that you are
also in the proximity of other veterans who have shared your
experience. Have you seen these items--do those observations
come out of the experience of on the ground observations of
working with veterans or has the ranch confirmed the theory
that those things are important in the healing process? Let me
put it that way.
Ms. Perry. Absolutely. We are seeing it on the ground. I
feel like we are just at the tip of the iceberg as well because
as I mentioned, agriculture is a vehicle. We send an e-mail
every week to veterans in the community. My particular passion
is combat veterans, so we actually are working on outreach to
those difficult to engage veterans.
So, we identify projects that we are working on and tasks
that need to be done on the property. They come out together
every week. On St. Patrick's Day, we had 17 vets out, and they
are spreading seed in the pasture, they are building shelters
for the animals, trimming the trees for safety, fireproofing
the property.
So, it is coming through anecdotally right now. As Mr.
Baccam mentioned earlier, I think there is a rich area for
research to be done on how this is actually benefitting the
vets. Right now, we are seeing it and hearing it.
As I mentioned in my testimony, I have had several vets say
the ranch has saved their lives. They have a reason to get up
and get out of their house and get out of their head. We are
starting to see more and more glue, so to speak, among vets
with each other.
Senator Merkley. Mr. LaGrange, as he described his
operation, I think you are training veterans to be farmers. Ms.
Perry, I think your operation has a little bit of a different
angle and is providing an immediate kind of productive
engagement, healing engagement for veterans.
Are those two things closely associated or are they kind of
different ways of being of assistance to veterans?
Ms. Perry. Thank you. I would say we have short-term goals
and long-term goals. I think our long-term goal would be to
provide more actual vocational opportunities. We are working
very closely with the Extension Service, so we have had members
of the Extension Service come out, do classes and tutorials. It
has been rather informal.
We are a start-up, so our big effort right now is building
capacity. That is where we could most use assistance. We would
like to see a more formalized vocational aspect. I am not sure
if you have heard of Archi's Acres down in California that is
run by a Marine combat veteran. We are also in communication
with Growing Veterans, which is an organic farm up in
Bellingham, Washington, that is a functional, and I believe
profitable, organic farm that is also doing a peer support
program.
Our goal is to increase the vocational component, but right
now, in our start-up phase, what we are focused on and what we
are seeing results with is the therapeutic component.
Senator Merkley. Great. Mr. Chairman, again, thank you very
much for holding this hearing. I think it raises interesting
issues for this subcommittee to work on. I applaud all of you
for your work.
I have felt that it is so hard for veterans to come back,
they have been engaged with high responsibility and high risk,
high adrenalin, they come back home and if they do not have
kind of a job structure to fit into, that transition can become
enormously difficult, and there are many ways to provide
opportunity, and I think particularly you all are involved in
an element that has quite a few very, very positive features
for engagement and healing, and well done, and thank you.
Senator Moran. Senator Merkley, thank you for your
cooperation in being able to have this hearing today. I now
turn to the Senator from Montana, Senator Daines.
Senator Daines. Thank you, Chairman Moran, Ranking Member
Merkley. Thank you for a very thoughtful and heartfelt
discussion today, the testimony was excellent. I want to thank
you for the service. There is a lot of years serving in the
military here on this panel.
Colonel Kanning, it is great to have Montanans here. I had
a chance to go to a lot of these hearings as one of my proud
Montanan moments to hear your story, see what you do with F-
15s, F-16s, F-22s, F-117s, and my only correction would be you
are still a somebody when you are back as a farmer in
Flaxville, Montana.
To quote your witness to your left, Mr. Ulrick, I think you
are doing God's work now back in Montana. You protected our
country in the United States Air Force for 20 years. You are
securing our country now by feeding it, and I thank you for
that.
Agriculture is our number one industry in Montana, and I am
saying this to another Bobcat here, Bobcat to Bobcat. We are
also home to 100,000 veterans. Typically, when we look at
surveys, Montana has one of the highest per capita vet
population in the United States. We are usually in the top two
to four.
One of our challenges is veteran unemployment, which has
been a persistent issue in Montana and around the country. It
is a top priority of mine to ensure that those who have served
our country are able to effectively transition to civilian life
and continue to apply the skills and the traits that are
learned in the military so they can then benefit their
communities.
That is why I strongly believe that agriculture can provide
significant opportunities for vets who bring invaluable
leadership and knowledge to the workforce.
Mr. Baccam, I am going to start with you. I was pleased to
see the USDA reached an agreement with the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce Foundation earlier this year to provide more
opportunities and tools for veterans to seek employment in ag
or start their own farms by connecting the USDA's Bridges to
Opportunity Program with the Chamber's Hiring Our Heroes
Initiative. I think that is a great bridge.
Unfortunately, this Bridges to Opportunity, which currently
operates in 20 States, is not active in Montana. I sent a
letter to Secretary Vilsack earlier this year urging the USDA
to expand this program into Montana to ensure that Montana vets
interested in ag have access to every tool available, including
Bridges to Opportunity.
What would it take to expand this program into Montana and
perhaps other States across the country?
Mr. Baccam. Senator, thank you for that question. At the
USDA, we were very excited to sign the memorandum of
understanding (MOU) with Hiring Our Heroes. That allowed us
access to military bases to talk directly with veterans, to
encourage them to get into farming or ranching. I will be
looking forward to engaging with them moving forward.
The Bridges to Opportunity Program is a very interesting
way in which we can help veterans find resources, not just in
the Farm Service Agency, but across the USDA as well. We are
implementing this initiative, this service. We want it to be
effective. We want to phase it in properly. I know we should
expect a nationwide expansion hopefully by the end of this
year.
Senator Daines. Is that saying we could expect that in
Montana by the end of the calendar year?
Mr. Baccam. Senator, I believe we are working towards
launching this nationwide very soon.
Senator Daines. Okay. I look forward to working further on
that, I would love to add Montana as the 21st State if that is
possible this year. Thanks for supporting that program. I would
like to see it certainly expanded in our State as well.
I want to switch over to Colonel Kanning. In your
testimony, you highlight several programs within the USDA that
were helpful in your own personal transition as a fourth
generation farmer to civilian life after your time in the Air
Force, 20 years outside of Montana coming home.
How did you learn of these programs and what in your view
could be done to ensure that other veterans in Montana and
around the country are aware of the opportunities that
agriculture can provide?
Mr. Kanning. Thank you, Senator. I had a lot of training
and education I needed when I went back to the farm because I
did not intend to be a farmer as a young man. I did not get any
farming education in college. I had no experience in farm
management.
One of the first places that I went to, Senator, was the
local Farm Service Agency office in Daniels County. As Mr.
Baccam has previously said, they are a great resource to any
beginning farmer, whether they be a veteran or not. They have
great programs that they will talk anybody through.
I do want to highlight one organization that has helped me
immensely, the Farmer Veteran Coalition. I am here today with a
few other members of the Farmer Veteran Coalition who made
trips from West Virginia and Virginia to sit in on this
hearing.
The Farmer Veteran Coalition gains funding through the 2501
Program, and they do miracles with it, Senator. They really
spread the word on all of the resources that are available to
veterans, whether they be USDA programs or commercially
available programs. It is an outstanding organization that
really carries the banner for all veterans who are getting
established in agriculture.
I would encourage this body to continue to support the 2501
Program and I would encourage this body to fully fund and
provide more funding to that program because it has made a big
difference for me and thousands of veterans across the United
States.
Senator Daines. Thank you, Colonel Kanning.
Senator Moran. The Senator from Montana, Senator Tester.
Senator Tester. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks
for plugging our bill. Hopefully, we can get some more co-
sponsors on that bad boy.
I want to thank you all for being here, thank you for your
testimony. Ms. Perry, I would love to have just a separate
hearing with you, we could talk about PTSD and what we can do
utilizing agriculture to help those folks because it is
curable. It is like a broken arm. We just have to make sure the
resources are out there.
Mr. LaGrange, it is very good to have you here, especially
considering you were a University of Montana student at one
point in time in your life.
Mr. LaGrange. Right now.
Senator Tester. Right now. That is good. The other thing is
I would love to visit with you about pollinators and what is
going on in that world. There are some pretty alarming
statistics out there. I would be interested to know if you
share the same.
Mr. Kanning, thank you for being here. You talked about the
2501 Program, Mr. Kanning. I guess the question is since that
is a program that works, that you endorse, are there other
programs out there that you endorse? Are there programs out
there that do not work that we are putting money into that we
should not be?
Mr. Kanning. Senator, Mr. Baccam mentioned the Beginning
Farmer/Rancher Development Program. That is a fantastic program
also. Montana State University used some of that money to put
together a program for beginning farmers. They delivered it
during the Montana Grain Growers Convention, and it is
absolutely fantastic.
The benefits to all beginning farmers under the crop
insurance title are fantastic also, and I think they are great.
Are there programs that do not work? I believe there is a
program that is rapidly and very soon will not work, and that
is the Direct Operating Loan Program through USDA. I,
personally, did not qualify for that. You have to get rejected
twice by commercial lenders. I will tell you, in the military,
it is very hard to develop bad credit in some aspects because
the military flat out will not let you do it. They are not
going to let you run around town bouncing checks.
When you get out, you are going to have some kind of decent
credit. I did not qualify for direct operating loans through
USDA. The reason I say I think it is at risk is because as
commodity prices drop, more and more banks are no longer
approving loans for people like me, and there is going to be
more and more of us who are now back into the direct operating
loan bucket, and I believe USDA is going to run out of money
pretty soon here on funds available for direct operating loans.
Senator Tester. In your written testimony, Mr. Kanning, you
talked about the importance of rural development in making
vibrant rural communities and attracting veterans back home.
You talked a little bit about staffing, not only of the FSA
office but also in Rural Development offices.
Can you just talk to me about your experience? We as
appropriators on this subcommittee on agriculture, and we are
the ones that see what that budget is going to be like, whether
it is for that FSA office or whether it is for Rural
Development, can you talk about what your experience has been
in that regard?
Mr. Kanning. Yes, Senator. Thank you. I am very passionate
about rural America, rural Montana. In rural Montana, we
provide a lot of great resources to Americans. Ranking Member
Merkley mentioned, about 40 percent of military veterans are
from rural America.
Unfortunately, we send all these great assets out into the
world and we get very little back. I believe one of the
greatest ways for us to recruit talent back into our small
rural communities is by focusing on the families.
I believe spouses and children and servicemembers
themselves want to come back to a community that has a strong,
healthy school system. They want to come back to a community
that has accessible healthcare in their town.
We want to have a business. I am concerned about who is
going to bury me when I die in the community I live in because
there are not people coming back in to take over those
businesses.
We need to invest in some infrastructure in rural
communities, and we need to have some type of recreation. I
think having resources available to us through the Rural
Development Grant Program are critical to recruiting talent
back.
For me, my local office is in Billings, Montana. It is 350
miles away. That is my closest office. We are currently trying
to get a grant through them on a project at our fairgrounds,
but it is 350 miles away, my chances of getting somebody up to
look at it are very difficult.
I know that is not directly tangible, tying into why I farm
and why I enjoy farming and why I am there farming, but it is
something that factors into recruiting talent back into rural
America.
Senator Tester. I agree with you 100 percent. I appreciate
that perspective. Mr. Chairman, I have a statement that I want
to make on Armed to Farm that the National Center for
Appropriate Technology (NCAT) does. I will put it in as
written, if you would do that.
Senator Moran. Without objection, so ordered.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
you all for your testimony. I wish I had an opportunity to
visit with you all, but I do not.
Just one correction, and I can say this because I farm
about the same as Mr. Kanning does in Montana, I would love to
say Mr. Kanning and I have big operations, but they are not by
Montana standards, not at all. So, 1,700 acres is a lot in
Central Illinois. It is not all that big in Montana, but that
does not mean that it cannot be successful and an economic unit
that supports a family, and sometimes even more than that.
So, thank you all very much.
Senator Moran. Senator Tester, thank you very much. We will
have another round of questions. I would like to direct this to
Mr. LaGrange. I know you worked closely with the VA in Kansas,
and I know you are working hard to get your SAVE Program well
on its way to meet the needs of veterans with PTSD and
traumatic brain injuries.
What is the estimate by the VA for people that could be
served by your program, and what is your sense of how many
people are now not receiving the care and treatment they need
as a result of having those injuries?
Mr. LaGrange. Well, as I mentioned, we have had several VA
representatives working with us to design this farm. We have
designed it for 100 students and their family members. I guess
the short answer is they believe our farm is about 25 percent
of the need. Their recommendation is that we expand the clinic
and the farm to handle at least four times the number of
members that we have designed it for.
Again, I would like to express the numbers, 1,500,000 vets,
800,000 transitioning military, the need for a million new
farmers. It is going to take a pretty bold program to address
that need. Therefore, we have designed this again as one farm
on one land grant university.
This Nation has a beautiful array of, I think, 78 land
grant universities, and ideally, if every one of those farms
had such a program, we could begin to address those numbers.
At large, bold efforts like that will only make marginal
differences until such time as we deal with the big numbers,
and the fact that our farm probably only meets 25 percent of
the need in a small area in Kansas is symptomatic of the fact
that we probably are going to have to look to other land grants
to adopt programs like this in order to take on the huge demand
for new and younger farmers in the future.
What a beautiful body to take them from, young, disciplined
folks that can fly F-16s or F-17s or M-1 tanks. Last year, when
we visited an equipment sales facility, the manufacturer was
telling us how difficult it was to drive a combine today
because it is so sophisticated. So, said one of our soldiers,
let me give it a try. Within 10 minutes, he drove that combine
around that facility, because he had the skills to do so.
Furthermore, most of these soldiers come with a retirement
of some sort, disability or otherwise. They come with medical
care. So, they have a leg up on others who would start farming
because they have those resources that others might not have.
They have real desire, firm desire, to farm.
So, it is a tremendous opportunity but to deal with the
kinds of numbers that are demanded here, it is going to take a
large, bold effort in order to meet them.
Senator Moran. Tell me the role that the land grant
colleges play, will you re-describe that for me?
Mr. LaGrange. Yes. Programmatically, in our case, the
Office of Extension develops the programs for this farm.
Incremental programs that are all encompassing, so in addition
to the hands on cattle and crops, it will learn farm economics,
it will learn the role of FSA and NRCS, EQIP, and all the
governmental and non-governmental organizations and how they
come knit together as a quilt of agriculture. So, extension
will be the primary program driver.
The instructors will come from extension also, a full
spectrum view of farming. The College of Architecture is most
interested in making sure that this design is functional,
innovative, and can teach these farmers the best ways to build
things and make things work. The College of Agriculture is
quite interested in teaching the most modern methods.
So, the number of 63 percent of our farms in the last
generation is every type of farm, it is a 2,000 or 5,000 wheat
farm and it is a 35-acre self-sustaining farm. No matter what
type of farm it is, they are in their last generation.
Beekeepers of the country cannot find folks to take over their
large operations.
So, the scope and scale of this problem is significant, and
requires bold action.
Senator Moran. Thank you. Mr. Ulrick, why were you able to
access this program? Was it just happenstance that you met Mr.
LaGrange, and what does that mean to other servicemen and
women, veterans, in the circumstance that you found yourself
in? What is your sense of the demand for the kind of
opportunity that you were provided?
Mr. Ulrick. Senator, to answer your question, I met Gary
LaGrange through the farm program they were trying to put
together during the Wounded Warrior unit that was at Fort
Riley, Kansas, which I was a part of the unit.
I have to kind of confess one thing, I missed one page of
my testimony which explained all of that.
Senator Moran. I am glad I asked the question.
Mr. Ulrick. Yes. If you would like me to read my page, I
will answer your questions for you.
Senator Moran. That would be just fine. There is no member
of the Senate who does not understand the opportunity to speak
a little longer. You are doing it well.
Mr. Ulrick. All right. What I did is I missed the second
page of my first part. This is my first chance here, so I am
actually really kind of excited. I am not quite as nervous as I
was before.
As you know, many soldiers come back from deployments
seeing the world in a different way. Many have deep depressions
that keep them from entering back into society and fitting in
well and adjusted. We can see that many take their lives
because of the adjustment issues, just like the one we had at
Kent State just the other night.
I believe we can restore the basic thoughts and the goals
of the American dream, freedom includes the opportunity of
prosperity, success, and achieving through hard work in a
society with few barriers. Many soldiers do not make the change
from being a soldier to being a civilian very well. Many have
struggles because they have been in positions of leadership,
being in charge of many operational needs of the military that
do not directly transfer to the civilian jobs or lifestyle.
It has been proven that working with livestock is like
having a service dog as a companion. People taking a course at
the SAVE farm will be able to learn a new way of life that uses
the things they have been taught about scheduling, planning,
managing, and being in charge of their lives. Basically, all
that stuff that we have been taught in the military about doing
operational things, doing different mission accomplishment
stuff, will come back and can fit some of that stuff directly
back into the farm programs where you cannot in normal civilian
jobs at factories and that type of thing.
So, actually, it still leaves them in those positions of
leadership. It is actually a family value thing. Farming is
actually a family way of life. That is the only way I can
explain it, and that is why I was talking about God's work.
I have owned a farm since I was 18 years old. I went in the
military to fly helicopters after a bad divorce. People have
been there. The thing is I have always kept my farm. I was in a
special operations unit and then I came back and I bought
another farm when I got married. My wife and I raised 10 kids.
There is not a better place to raise children than on a farm. I
am speaking from the hip.
The thing is if we do not help these soldiers become
farmers, pretty soon there is going to be big corporate farms
and pretty soon we will be punching a timecard going to work,
and it is not going to be owned by families. It is going to be
owned by large corporations.
If we can get it back to the lower levels where the
families can own these, this is what we really need to push
for.
Anyway, thank you for letting me testify, and I hope I
answered your questions, and I welcome more of them.
Senator Moran. Thank you very much.
Senator Daines.
Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a
couple of follow up questions for Colonel Kanning. You
mentioned the similarities between the characteristics that are
common among both veterans as well as farmers, including the
critical importance of being dedicated, disciplined, and
willing to sacrifice.
How can ag assist veterans in transitioning to civilian
life even for those where farming may not have been something
they grew up with or a life long dream as it was for you?
Mr. Kanning. Thank you, Senator. For me, personally, ag has
helped out because he gave me a mission again, and in the
military, we get used to having missions all the time, going
out to accomplish a specific task, and then look back and de-
brief and see what we did right and what we did wrong.
We can do that with agriculture. At the end, we produce a
tangible result. We are not sitting in an office answering a
phone every single day. We are producing a result. I think that
is very helpful to a veteran.
I think the risks and rewards are fantastic also. It gives
you a sense of adventure again. It gives you a reason to get
going in the morning, because you do not know what the risks
are going to be or what the rewards are going to be each and
every day. There are new challenges.
I think the team work and comradery that we get in the
military is also very apparent every single day. It is on my
farm. I am a farmer of one. I get the team work and comradery
from working with my neighbors, working with my community on
projects. When my neighbor has a problem with a tractor or
needs some help pulling a calf, he calls me.
So, we develop great team work and comradery out there.
So, I think there are a lot of ways that ag can benefit
veterans. I believe there are a lot of ways that veterans can
benefit ag as well, and ag communities.
Senator Daines. Kind of following up on that, as you look
back at your own 20 years of service in the Air Force, what has
been particularly useful from the skills learned or valuable to
you as you transitioned from military service to farming?
Mr. Kanning. Senator, we spend a lot of time in training in
the military. I mean I got trained one time how to walk up and
walk down a ladder. It does not matter what it is you think you
are going to do, you are going to get training for it, whether
you want it or need it or not.
I think that was instilled in me over and over in the
military and it has really been beneficial to me in my
transition because it forced me to go seek training and
education opportunities, like those you can get through the
Farmer Veteran Coalition, like all the great programs that Farm
Credit puts on all across America, training and education
programs.
Leadership development is very important also in my
transition. Obviously, it does not matter whether you are an E-
3 or an O-10, the military is always going to continue to
develop your leadership skills. That is something that we
greatly need out in rural America. There is fantastic
leadership opportunities out there, and there are plenty of
opportunities to use those leadership skills that are developed
in the military.
So, I think those are some of the primary ones, Senator.
Senator Daines. We met earlier today. You brought up the
steep learning curve that you dealt with when you returned back
to the farm, and such challenges can be obstacles to veterans
or other individuals who have an interest in starting up a farm
or perhaps a ranch.
We talked about the declining rural communities. They are
facing declining populations, changing the demographics.
Flaxville used to have a high school. They do not any more. It
is now Scobey.
What can be done to reverse or mitigate that trend and
reduce the number of obstacles that younger generations face in
trying to start in agriculture?
Mr. Kanning. Well, Senator, I think there are a lot of
great programs out there. To get young, out of high school,
young 20-year-olds, maybe straight out of college families back
into agriculture, there are a lot of great programs to get
older folks back into agriculture after a career in the
military or any other business sector, to draw them back in.
I do strongly believe we need to invest in rural America
through rural development programs because if the family does
not want to come back to a place like Scobey, Montana, then you
are never going to get a farmer like me back there. We have to
entice them through having good healthcare and strong schools
and a vibrant business community, great economy.
I think it is important for us to invest in programs like I
mentioned previously, the 2501 Program, and the Beginning
Farmer/Rancher Development Grants, so that we can help spread
the word among veterans, so we can provide them training and
education, so they can find--if we give them a list or
knowledge or awareness of the programs that are out there,
Senator, the veterans will find a way to overcome the
challenges they face.
That is what we do. That is what we did for however long we
served. We came into a challenge and we figured out how to
solve it. If we invest in training and education, the veterans
will figure out how to overcome those challenges.
Senator Daines. Thanks, Colonel Kanning.
Senator Moran. Mr. LaGrange, Senator Merkley asked Ms.
Perry about whether her program was accessing the programs
described by the Secretary. I would ask you the same question.
Is there something at the Department of Agriculture that is
advantageous to you and your mission?
Mr. LaGrange. I have been working with Lanon Baccam now for
some while, and he has been most supportive of what we are
doing. I think he is right along beside us as we move along. I
cannot speak for him, of course.
We are finding ways that can work. USDA is engaged with us
in our farm tour program. We spend a day with them, as I
mentioned earlier, on each farm tour. We are exploring
opportunities through the rural initiatives to help us out. As
of today, we have not taken advantage of any, but we are
working together to figure that out.
One of the hurdles, I guess you could say, is that again
with numbers this big, it is going to take the Veterans
Administration and the Department of Defense and others working
side by side to solve a problem of this magnitude.
So, we are exploring ways to try to bring them into this. I
met with leaders of the Army for Life Program and others, too,
and there are some hurdles for us to get through.
It is difficult for a young soldier transitioning to find
the time or be given the time to participate in programs like
SAVE or any of the others that have been talked about here
because during the last 180 days, they must engage in
apprenticeships that are only governmental in nature. They
cannot participate in a program like Kansas State University,
they cannot participate with SAVE. They would like to be able
to, but they are prohibited from doing so by DOD regulation and
by different acts.
Given the number of folks that we have that want to engage
in agriculture, that is a stumbling block. We would have many
more in our program if we could figure out ways to get beyond
those bureaucratic hurdles.
So, Secretary Baccam is working with us to try to figure
out how we can do that. After all, this program is for all
services. So far, we have worked with the United States Army
and regional Veterans Administration. We have not been able to
touch any of the other services yet because of some of the DOD
hurdles we cannot get over.
So, a coalition of sorts or some sort of interagency
approach to solving a problem of this magnitude is really
necessary if any of these programs are going to work.
Senator Moran. Secretary Baccam or Colonel LaGrange, do you
have any sense that somebody at the Department of Defense is
the right person, the right office, in which these issues could
be resolved or at least attempted to be resolved? Is there
somebody at DOD that cares about this and is working on it?
Mr. Baccam. Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. The Transition to
Veterans Program office in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense is a close partner with us at the USDA. We have been
working with them to make sure that USDA is at the table when
we discuss agriculture as an option for veterans.
As Mr. LaGrange has noted, we can with our connections now,
with the Military Veterans Agriculture Liaison position at the
USDA, put Mr. LaGrange in contact with the right folks at DOD
or SBA or Department of Labor, or VA, as we hear things. I have
done that in the past, as I have met with folks.
With our partnership with SAVE, I believe we can work
together a lot stronger, because there are ways, I believe, in
which we can take a look at the Rural Development Office and
see if there are programs that can help with Mr. LaGrange's
program, and the rest of the programs at the USDA will be
beneficial when these veterans complete these courses, when
they start to become farmers or ranchers, we can be there to
help them and catch them on their way out to assist them with
purchasing farm land and getting homes and helping revitalize
these rural communities, as Mr. Kanning has focused on as well.
Senator Moran. Thank you. Let me see if any of you have
anything you would like to make certain is said today that you
have not been given the opportunity to say.
Ms. Perry.
Ms. Perry. Thank you, Senator. This is coming from the
voice of some veterans back home. I have not met one veteran in
my community, and as I mentioned, we have 20,000 veterans in
Central Oregon, who was aware of USDA resources or knew where
to go to find anything out about farming and ranching programs.
It was sort of like completely novel and new to them.
So, I think you mentioned, Mr. Baccam mentioned outreach
programs. I think it is important to assist the USDA in getting
the word out to more veterans, increasing the awareness in
education, and that might look like more communication between
USDA and VA, and more information in vet centers and VA clinics
for veterans to become more aware.
Also, I think there is a challenge with veterans having
difficulty particularly if they are struggling with post-
traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury and different
conditions in navigating bureaucracy. So, I had a vet in my
office last week making phone calls for him with the VA to help
him out because it was completely overwhelming to him and he
ends up getting frustrated and hanging up the phone.
So, to streamline or simplify some of those entry level
access to USDA programs for vets so that they are going from
one system where they are completely overwhelmed. I think the
VA has done a good job of trying with the Transitions Program,
the OAF Program, of implementing programs that help take the
veteran by the hand and guide them through the bureaucracy, so
perhaps the USDA might have something similar where there is a
very specific, hey, I am the veterans' outreach person, I am
here to help you navigate all these programs and find which one
is a fit for you.
Senator Moran. That is a good point, and I would say the
USDA has an FSA office in nearly every county in the country
where it is accessible. I do not know if those offices would be
promoting or finding ways to have a veterans' fair, for
example, to tell veterans in the area about those
opportunities.
I would guess that normally we think that falls to the VA,
which does not have an office in every county in the country,
and while we have traveling veteran representatives, there are
lots of issues that our veterans face that the VA is involved
in. This may not be something that is highlighted in those
conversations.
Mr. LaGrange, in response to what Ms. Perry said, the
individuals that are participating in your SAVE program, they
know about it because?
Mr. LaGrange. We are changing our culture, I think. When I
first began this program over 3 years ago, I met with
counselors on the Department of Defense side, the Veterans
Administration side, the Tuition Assistance Program folks. I
went to job fairs.
Not once was agriculture ever mentioned. It was not in the
vocabulary of VA or DOD. It clearly was not. There just was not
a program there. In fact, in the initial meetings that I went
to, the myth that exists out there that farming is a dead end
career was brought up on several occasions.
I was asked in the midst of a bunch of veterans who wanted
to get into farming why on earth I would ever want to lead them
into farming because it is a dead end career. I debunked that
right away by asking her, in this case, a her, and in another
case, a him, whether there was a business plan for the farm
that they grew up on.
I told them that our tours were to high value farms where
they could learn how to farm properly and correctly. It was not
easy but they would be shown farms where success was the
byword.
So, I think we began to change and still have to change
that myth out there. It was hard to get the word out. The VA
folks we worked with finally saw the virtues of this program,
the merits of it, and began to put the word out to veterans in
their area that we had this program. The Wounded Warrior
Battalion Commander saw it at Fort Riley and others,
occupational specialists saw this as having merit, and began to
grow the program.
There is still a lot of work that has to be done in getting
the word out that this is a viable way to pursue life, and a
good rich way to pursue life.
That is the part of it that I mentioned before, getting the
upper levels of those stovepipes to understand that there is
value in this, and to take a coalition, an interagency approach
to making sure that agriculture is properly represented as a
viable career choice, lifestyle choice.
It was mostly found out about through word of mouth through
a few counselors at Fort Riley that wished to investigate this,
so it is growing, I think. I think the word is getting out.
Advocacy at all levels is clearly required to represent
agriculture as something good and wholesome and valuable.
Senator Moran. My guess is the answer to that question is
your tenacity is what caused people to learn about the program.
Mr. Secretary, I asked you about the Department of Defense
and you indicated who there would be most responsible for
helping address some of the issues that were talked about. What
would be the companion at the Department of Veterans Affairs?
Where in the VA is this highlighted and focused on?
Mr. Baccam. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the question. There
is an Office of Training and Employment that we work with
closely at the VA to make sure the programs that we have are
available to veterans.
I would like to real quickly touch on some of the
challenges that Ms. Perry and Mr. LaGrange have highlighted. It
is true, USDA has not had a chance to really sell agriculture
at the national level with veterans. Just late last year, our
former Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden, signed an agreement with
DOD to incorporate information about USDA and agriculture into
the packet of information all veterans or all servicemembers
are required to take at the Transition Assistance Program
(TAP).
This is really key because it is really difficult to find
veterans who are interested in farming after they get out, in
the sense that if they are in the military currently and they
are still a servicemember, they have a commanding officer who
can compel them, you need to go take this training, or you need
to go through this course.
So, with TAP and with USDA being incorporated into the
information packet, that is a first touch. With our recent
signing of the memorandum of understanding with Hiring Our
Heroes, this is huge for us because we now have an opportunity
to introduce agriculture face to face with veterans all across
the country.
The transition summits that Hiring Our Heroes coordinates
on with DOD, they put on these, what I think, are the premiere
employment summits for veterans, and we can talk to them when
they are still in the service so they can start thinking about
what they are going to do when they get out.
We launched an ag workshop just two weeks ago in Fort
Bliss, in El Paso, Texas, the first time we ever had a chance
to do this. We had no idea how many people would show up. It
was standing room only in a room like this. People were lined
up outside the door trying to get in to see our presentation.
Our workshop was the second most well attended workshop
only to law enforcement. That tells me there is huge interest,
huge opportunity here for us to continue to talk about the
opportunities in farming or ranching, in agriculture, in rural
America, because veterans really want it, and we are going to
continue work over the next several months this year to make
sure we attend more of these transition summits, launch more of
these workshops, and talk to as many veterans as possible.
Senator Moran. Mr. Secretary, you seem very committed, and
I appreciate that attitude and approach. Thank you very much.
Perhaps our hearing today will be of assistance in informing
and getting attention to an opportunity that we hope exists for
many, many veterans.
Therefore, unless anybody else has----
Mr. Ulrick.
Mr. Ulrick. I would like to comment on what Gary was
talking about, people being negative and saying they cannot do
it. We were told the sound barrier could not be broke. Years
ago when I was a kid, everybody said, oh, it cannot be done,
you cannot start farming, you just cannot do it. It can be done
and I have proved it. I got 280 acres in Minnesota, and I do
not have a big monster mansion I live in or anything like that,
and I piecemealed it together, and I worked a couple of jobs
and I supported it and did those kinds of things.
These young guys and gals need to learn, and I believe they
will learn this at the SAVE farm, how to manage money, how to
keep their values in check, also how to keep their vision in
check. It is part of that American dream, if they overspend,
they are going to put themselves in a burden where they are not
going to be happy.
I think we can also help them learn how to be happy, manage
their lives, and be productive and do what they need to do.
Thank you, Senator.
Senator Moran. Thank you very much. I appreciate each and
every one of you being here today and thank you for spending
the time you have spent with me and my colleagues on this
subcommittee, and the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee
will have a budget to work and an appropriation bill to work
that will include the potential of dealing with the issues in
the President's budget or issues that members of the
subcommittee want to raise in regard to appropriations to USDA.
I again thank you all for being here. I thank you for your
service. There is no group of people I hold in higher regard
than those who served our country with perhaps the exception of
those who served our country who now serve others who served
our country. Many of you are certainly in that circumstance,
and I am grateful for that.
Thanks for caring. I am of the view we change the world one
soul, one person at a time, and your programs, your own lives,
and your own families had the opportunity to do that.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
Senator Moran. I thank again everyone for their attendance,
and our hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:11 p.m., Tuesday, April 5, the
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of
the chair.]