Sacramento veterans can now go back to school on the farm to intern and learn how to become ranchers and farmers. And local farmers also will be helped if the new bill passes and congress supports local food and regional farmers or ranchers. Visit The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition NSAC’s website. Meanwhile, how many local veterans are going back to school as interns to become a farmer in the local Sacramento or regional area? Can this job for veterans eventually lead to earning a living?
How will congress vote on helping local farmers and ranchers in Sacramento and those who want to go back to school to become farmers and ranchers to replace the increasingly numerous local farmers who are retiring? Veterans are eager to be trained in food safety techniques. Veterans want to learn more about farmer food safety training through the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach and Technical Assistance program, authorized last year as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.
The back to school intern movement shows veterans how to cultivate, nurture, and provide safe food locally. Will the Local Farm, Food and Jobs Act help? Can the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach and Technical Assistance program, authorized last year as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, also help?
Check out the March 27, 2011 Sacramento Bee article by Anne Gonzales, "Sacramento farmer coalition has intern jobs for veterans." If you're interested in becoming a Sacramento farmer and entering the green life, you might apply to become an intern at a Sacramento urban farm, where you will learn how to cultivate the soil, nurture plants and provide a safe food supply for the Sacramento and regional communities. Where can you learn to be a Sacramento urban farmer?
Apply for an internship at Soil Born Farms. Sacramento's Soil Born Farms allows youth and adults to rediscover and participate in a system of food production and distribution that promotes healthy living. The location of Soil Born Farms is at 3000 Hurley Way, Sacramento, CA 95864. See the website, Soil Born Farms: Urban Farms. You can participate in an agricultural and educational project.
One way to land an internship with Soil Born Farms if you're a military veteran is through the Davis-based Farmer Veteran Coalition, which is a program gaining national attention for its work in recruiting fresh blood to a declining U.S. farming industry while training returning veterans, many of them injured or disabled, for employment. The Farmer Veteran Coalition is located at 508 2nd St, Suite 206, Davis CA 95616.
Learn about organic farming and how to manage organic vegetable operations. The project creates jobs for veterans returning home, including veterans with disabilities and no jobs.
Sacramento needs more people in agriculture, especially younger people, because the local area's farmers are beginning to retire. The coalition helps veterans who served after 9/11, giving them opportunities in farming or helping them expand or advance in agriculture- related jobs or companies. The program is close to UC Davis's School of Agriculture.
How the coalition can help you is through hosting career fairs, conferences, and retreats that train veterans in farming methods and management. You also can learn specialized skills in the veterinary, mechanical, agronomy, distribution, sales, horticulture, viticulture and beekeeping fields. Much of the support to veterans comes in the form of one-on-one advice from staffers and volunteers.
There are also opportunities beyond Sacramento in Los Angeles, for example or in other states such as the groups in Iowa, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania. AT&T awarded large grants for a farm mentor program. For example, a person learning to be a farmer can be matched up with an experienced farmer to learn how to farm. Also the Bob Woodruff Foundation gives direct support to veterans with a disability, brain injury, or who have been otherwise wounded in military service, who want to train to become farmers.
Farming is an opposite action to war, for example, by nurturing, growing, and nourishing plants that will become food. It gives unemployed vets a role in contributing to the economy and the country's standing. A large number of Sacramento veterans are unemployed. According to the Dept. of Veterans affairs, a recent study noted that nationally 2 million young veterans have served since 2001, and as many as 500,000 could be unemployed when they get home, or earn less than needed to provide for their families.
If you're a veteran with a brain injury, disability, or post-traumatic stress, you may feel better outdoors learning how to be a farmer or farm manager rather than go into a job where you'd be cramped in an office cubicle or have to deal with difficult customer service situations. Farming, like gardening can be expansive and one way to de-stress. The reality is that most U.S. farmers are growing old. The average age of an American farmer is in his or her late fifties. Two farmers retire for every new farmer beginning work.
Organic produce is a nourishing business focused on providing nutrition. The internships are on small, organic farms not with huge industrial food processing plants. By working with smaller, organic farms, a veteran can create cleaner food supplies or work with people who supply farmers' markets and other outlets for the produce.
Organic farms also don't expose the vets working outdoors to synthetic pesticides and toxins. The trend in Sacramento is toward running the small, organic farm. It's about keeping the food clean and safe. For veterans, it's a chance to keep food production in the USA.
Maybe for some vets, it's also a national security issue to have local organic vegetables in the community. If you become a farmer you can serve your country by feeding Sacramento and other areas of America locally grown organic produce. You'd be close to the end user of what you produce. Some of the local farms are in Sacramento, Davis, or Fairfield. You also can help farmers transition to organic farming in the local area. Farmers also have the ability to sell produce to local restaurants or at stands on the farm site.
You might live in a tent at Soil Born Farms to do your internship and learn how to farm so you could replace farmers who are retiring. It's healthy to reconnect with food sources without breathing in insecticides. You don't have to suffer from a disability or anxiety to apply, but you need to be a veteran.
Farm work for someone coming home from combat duty can provide just the peace of mind you would want to experience. The coalition hopes to reach 15,000 more veterans in the next 3 to 5 years. Check out the Farmer Veteran Coalition and see whether this is an experience or internship for you. See the article, Sacramento farmer coalition has intern jobs for veterans. You can serve your country by helping to grow local, organic fruits and vegetables in the Sacramento area.
You can serve your country by helping to grow local, organic fruits and vegetables in the Sacramento or Davis area. Or choose another area. One of the benefits of farming is your ability through activities to help get rid of stress and anxiety by working at your own pace outdoors doing organic farming of fruits and vegetables.
Local Food Day in Sacramento
How did you celebrate Food Day on October 24, 2011? What did you do to celebrate buying and eating local food in Sacramento? See the article, Celebrate Food Day by Telling Congress to Support Local Food.
Who in Sacramento and regional areas will the new Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act help most? Visit The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition NSAC’s website. The legislation will help local farmers and ranchers. The idea of eating local in Sacramento is catching on along with the popularity of local farmers' markets and food markets carrying local produce.
Today Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine announced that next week they will introduce the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act, a comprehensive bill intended for inclusion in the 2012 Farm Bill, according to the October 27, 2011 news release, "Local and Regional Food Bill Prepared for Inclusion in New Farm Bill."
This legislation will help farmers and ranchers engaged in local and regional agriculture by addressing production, aggregation, processing, marketing, and distribution needs. It will also assist consumers by improving access to healthy food. Of utmost importance, the bill will provide secure farm bill funding for critically important programs that support family farms, expand new farming opportunities and rural jobs, and invest in the local agriculture economy.
“We applaud Senator Brown and Congresswoman Pingree for introducing this legislation, which is important to farmers and consumers alike,” said Helen Dombalis, a Policy Associate with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, according to the news release. “The Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act revises and expands federal farm programs already in place to ensure that they work well for producers wanting to add value to their products and to sell in their own communities and regional markets, helping to meet rapidly expanding consumer demand for local food.”
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and its 40 member groups were closely involved in the development of the bill. Among the many other groups endorsing the measure are the National Farmers Union, National Organic Coalition, Community Food Security Coalition, American Farmland Trust, and the National Farm to School Network.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities. The coalition also advocates for supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities.
NSAC’s vision of agriculture is one where a safe, nutritious, ample, and affordable food supply is produced by a legion of family farmers who make a decent living pursuing their trade, while protecting the environment, and contributing to the strength and stability of their communities.
NSAC member groups, according to its website, advance common positions to support small and mid-size family farms, protect natural resources, promote healthy rural communities, and ensure access to healthy, nutritious foods by everyone. By bringing grassroots perspectives to the table normally dominated by big business, NSAC levels the playing field and gives voice to sustainable and organic farmers. To do this work, NSAC:
- gathers input from sustainable and organic farmers and ranchers, and from a diverse group of grassroots farm, food, rural, and conservation organizations that work directly with farmers;
- develops policy through participatory issue committees that involve NSAC member organizations and allies;
- provides direct representation in Washington, D.C. on behalf of its membership to members of Congress and federal administrative offices, such as USDA and EPA; and
- builds the power of the sustainable agriculture movement by strengthening the capacity of its member groups to promote citizen engagement in the policy process.
What the Bill Proposes
The comprehensive bill called the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act, includes provisions that cut across ten titles of the Farm Bill, including proposals that address conservation, credit, nutrition, rural development, research and extension, food safety, livestock, and crop insurance. For instance, the bill would:
- Authorize USDA’s Risk Management Agency to develop a whole farm revenue insurance product for diversified operations, including specialty crops and mixed grain/livestock or dairy operations;
- Strengthen direct producer-to-consumer and larger scale retail and institutional marketing channels, through the Local Marketing Promotion Program, a renewal and expansion of the current Farmers’ Market Promotion Program;
- Expand USDA’s rural Business and Industry loan funding set-aside for local and regional food enterprises and infrastructure;
- Create an annual allocation for local and regional specialty crop market development within the Specialty Crop Block Grant program;
- Renew funding for the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program to assist producers entering into organic production; and
- Fund farmer food safety training through the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach and Technical Assistance program, authorized last year as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.
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