Veterans turned farmers and ranchers find 'another mission'

Garrett Dwyer learned modern farm management and
business skills from the Farmer Veteran Coalition.

The metamorphosis of a soldier to civilian can be a stressful shift. "The Farmer Veteran Coalition, a national nonprofit initiative, is attempting to bend that trend line while helping service members transition to a post-military career," reports Adam Biga of the Nebraska-based Flatwater Free Press.

Garrett Dwyer is a veteran who "runs about 500 head of Hereford and Angus cattle on his Bartlett ranch on the east edge of the Sandhills in Texas. The land he’s on today has been in his family since 1894," Biga writes. "But Dwyer didn’t take over this ranch until he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including two combat tours in Iraq. Now, he’s taking advantage of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, which aims to re-energize small agriculture by supporting military veterans who want to work the land."

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Each veteran has their own special background. "Some veterans, like Dwyer, 36, grew up on a farm and left to enlist, always intending to come back. Other farm-kids-turned-veterans have been lured back by the opportunity to carry on a legacy or to start one of their own," Biga explains. "And still others with no farm or ranch background are grabbing the chance to get trained to farm for the first time." Dwyer told Biga, “It’s pretty special to have something like this that enables me to continue to work and ranch the same land as my early grandparents."

A side benefit for some veterans is that working the land can be therapy. Biga writes, "Dwyer found that the lifestyle helps ward off the demons that can come with PTSD, which he was diagnosed with upon his return stateside. His own PTSD has eased in severity, he said, in part because he feels fortunate to have 'another mission' to give him purpose. Others haven’t been as fortunate – Dwyer has lost friends to suicide."

With several years under his belt, "Dwyer has become his own rancher, and more support for veterans in agriculture has emerged. One, the AgVets program, is a three-year training program for veterans interested in, or already involved with, agriculture," Biga reports. "The federal program includes workshops, field demonstrations, business planning and mentoring – much of it led by military veterans who now farm. . . . Dwyer is glad to see new resources for veterans re-entering agriculture or entering it for the first time."