From Service to Soil: Building a Successful Veteran Farm

Farming can look like a simple escape plan until you run the numbers and realize the real enemy is the order of operations. Land is expensive, fences cost money, equipment breaks, and a “quick” farm dream can turn into years of stress if you start out of sequence. I sit down with Kate Bowen, program director of the American VetFarm Network (a program of At Ease Orchard), to talk about what it actually takes to help veterans become farmers and stay healthy in the process.

We get into the practical questions veteran farmers ask most: how to access land, how to choose the right scale, how to build a basic farm business plan, and how to cut through the maze of veteran resources and agricultural resources without getting overwhelmed by online advice. Kate shares why the network often serves first-generation and small diversified farms, and how farm-to-table demand from chefs and local restaurants can create opportunity when the marketing and timelines are realistic.

We also talk about the harder parts people avoid: isolation after leaving the military, the need for camaraderie, and the high suicide rate in agriculture. For veterans farming with injuries or disabilities, Kate explains how adaptive farm equipment and partners like AgrAbility can make the work safer and more sustainable. We close by noting that a USDA 2501 grant is funding nationwide training events, a growing resource library, and hands-on coaching for veterans who want purpose in the soil. They have an informative podcast on their YouTube channel with episodes that veterans will find useful.

If you know a veteran with a farming idea, share this and help them find a smarter starting line. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what’s the biggest obstacle you think new veteran farmers face?

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Larry Zilliox 0:00

Good morning. I'm your host, Larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run. This week our guest is Kate Bowen. She's program director of the American Vet Farm Network, which is a program of Addy's Orchard out in Wilkinson, Indiana. Flyover country. Uh breadbasket, a little bit east of Indianapolis, but to definitely farm country. Kate, welcome to the podcast.

Kate Bowen 0:30

Thank you so much for having me.

Larry Zilliox 0:32

I really appreciate I wanted to uh I ran across your webpage and I thought, well, this is different. We we have a lot of resources for veterans. Uh this is there's not many like this. Uh so tell us a little bit about how you got involved in in sort of starting this program.

Kate Bowen 0:53

Absolutely. Well, uh my husband uh is kind of was for us as a family getting into agriculture. Um, when he was surviving in the Middle East, he was in

From Deployment Sketch To Farm Life

Kate Bowen 1:05

the middle of the desert, uh sandy day and on the back of a knack. And he sort of sketched what he wanted to do when he returned home from service, um, and he was gonna return to uh Vermont to some land that his grandparents had. He really wanted to operate a sawmill. Um, he had summers at in high school for a guy who had a he got some of those skills and really wanted to come back home. And a lot of family farms are diversified. So there's a products industry piece and uh agricultural, you know, food or milk dare piece. And um so he started that. Um pretty soon we started getting chickens, and that turned into and cattle and sheep and ducks and farm stores and being a and working with chefs in our community. So while that was thing in the early 2000s, there was a little bit of a food renaissance, a little bit, you know, kind of an awareness that we're seeing right now. Um and there was a little bit of a mini back to the land movement and some excitement about looking at food sources. And so around the nation, people were also returning home from you know, desert storm and and early deployments. Um so there was starting sort of a nonprofit uh groups. We're starting to pop country. And so there's a couple uh different groups now that that we started out with at Ease Orchard, which is the group that I've worked with for for a couple of years. Um, that's by a retired army colonel who spent some time at the Pentagon, 30 years in service, uh came out uh with some disabilities and wanting to give back to his local community. And he started an orchard um beekeeping classes on his farm in Sienna. And uh he recruited me to start also serving veterans, which is what I want as our farm has grown. We've been able to welcome veterans onto our farm to learn everything from tractor safety to how to process chickens um and how to make sausage and financial literacy for agricultural businesses and everything in between. So about three years ago, um, I drafted this grant to submit to USDA. It was, you know, an idea, kind of passion project. And uh we finally got word that it was uh awarded in late September, and we've been speed to enact it now. And so it's a nationwide program. Um, the small nonprofit of Addy's Orchard was, you know, just Joe's farm where he had tours and veterans join, um, now has multiple nationwide programs. Um, everything from helping uh wounded warriors get adaptive tractor equipment to helping with mental health and um different programs with wellness, holistic wellness programs, and then also classes for beginning farmers and those who need just business and marketing technical for farms that are already underway. So we're kind of becoming a little bit of a one-stop shop for um warriors, which is really exciting to see it develop.

Larry Zilliox 4:19

And you were in Vermont or Indiana?

Kate Bowen 4:23

Yeah, so our farm, we farmed from 1999 until four years ago in southern Vermont and then we moved to eastern Tennessee, um, which is

Growing From One Farm To Nationwide

Kate Bowen 4:34

amazing. And uh we get 90 extra days of grain, which really matters to our farm because we raise our animals on grass. So that's a big deal for our farm. So I get to work remote area. Um, we have a lot of veterans um around the Knoxville, Eastern Tennessee area, uh, which is exciting to be able to work with veteran services here as well.

Larry Zilliox 4:56

So when you think about the veterans that uh come in contact with the organization, uh is there a particular type of veteran or or who makes the best veteran farmer?

What Makes A Veteran Farmer

Kate Bowen 5:11

Well, it takes a lot of resiliency and tenacity if you want to operate an agricultural business, because farming is very unpredictable and the stressors are high. Um, so we do work with people that are able to use those skills of resiliency, um, the sort of suck it up buttercup mentality, uh, which goes really well with agriculture. But we also have programs and veterans where they're doing more horticultural therapy. And it's more of, I would say, farming as a homestead or on a small scale, maybe it's just a raised bed garden, and it's more about having purpose, um, getting your hands in the soil and getting those microbes that have actually been shown to help with depression symptoms. Um, more of that. We really run the gamut, and we also have veterans of all eras. So this morning I just did a technical assistance coaching call with someone whose father, you know, was in Vietnam and he's a rancher. And then we also a lot of members who are currently serving, and maybe they have a little bit of downtime on their deployment and they want to watch some of our uh recorded educational materials and figure out a plan for when they get home. So a little bit more my husband um took. So it really is different every day. And um people have grown up on farms and some are completely new to farming, and we have programs for both.

Larry Zilliox 6:46

What is the the type of farming that you find yourself giving the most assistance with? Is it cattle raising? Is it chicken raising? Is it corn? Is it you know, planted fields? Is it I want to start a small

The Biggest Needs For New Farmers

Larry Zilliox 7:01

business to just, I don't want to, you know, I don't want thousands of acres of corn. I just want enough to be able to sell it at the farmer's market. What where do you find you you have veterans coming to you with the most needs?

Kate Bowen 7:15

I would say generally it's the smaller scale farmer. Um, it's less acreage because a lot of our requests for assistance are first generation farmers, which makes us a little bit more in some you know, well-established programs. Like if you go to the American Farm Bureau Association, like a lot of those people are multi-generational farms. Not to say we don't have that, but a lot of our requests are finding out how I can purchase land, how can I get started with equipment, um, how do I learn about soil health, those things. But I have to say it's my mission to serve all veterans. And so I know that my shortcomings are in especially the larger multi-generational row crop families, so that, you know, corn, soybeans was big, especially Midwestern farms. And so we actually are going to be going to like the farm progress uh show, which is a very large uh equipment expo and learning um event in Iowa to try to kind of stake a claim a little bit with that audience as well. So we're definitely hitting more of the homesteader, small diversified farm, people who are having, you know, 500 chickens a year and some sheep and goats and lamb um product at their local farmer's market. That demographic we're covering really well right now. And so our reach is really hitting those those larger farms because those veterans, you know, deserve to be served as well.

Larry Zilliox 8:45

I know you mentioned that you know sort of this food movement took off about when you started the organization, and and there is a big, huge push for farm to table local sourcing. Um chefs love

Farm-To-Table Interest And Real Steps

Larry Zilliox 9:00

it. Uh they I I know a number of chefs that focus on a menu that tells you exactly where they got the food, the the farm and where it's at, um, which is important to chefs. And are you seeing a rise in in that kind of uh uh farm where it's a it's a veteran family that that says, you know, hey, we we have this land, maybe you know, they got it, grandpa willed it to them or something, and they're coming to you and saying this is sort of like what we want to do. We want that farm to table approach, but we're not sure how to start, and we need some resources.

Kate Bowen 9:42

Absolutely. We get a lot of those calls where it's it's a bit of an idea and a dream, and then it's doing the coaching piece to figure out some realistic steps and uh timelines for for getting to results. So that's that's a lot of what we do. Um, there are so many unique circumstances into what that needs in order to be successful. One of our biggest goals with this American Vet Farm Network program is that we work to kind of help navigate the the maze of veteran resources and agricultural resources that are already out there and established, but they're very challenging to navigate and to figure out that stepwise logistical order of operations to be effective because you don't want to buy cattle and spend 50 grand if you don't have the fencing yet. And so, you know, to a new farmer, they may have not thought about that, or they want to apply for grants, but they don't have a cost analysis of their product or a marketing plan or a business plan even. Uh, maybe they haven't looked at zoning in their area and they want to have a farm stand on the side of the road. So, like those are the questions that are very practical, very down to earth, but that are kind of hard to find. There's a lot of information out there with the advent of YouTube, um, but it's a little bit overwhelming and some, you know, celebrities and ag a little bit oversell some of the opportunity that's out there. And so sometimes it's good to have um, you know, someone to reel it back into a little bit more practical uh stance. Because if you're somebody who still wants to go on vacations three times a year with your family, you know, having a certain business might not be for you. You know, you see you gotta kind of gotta work in those personal needs. Um, and since Joe and I and the rest of our team have been involved in agriculture for you know decades, then we're able to do that matching up of services, which I think is a has been a missing part in this journey for military veterans who want to get into agriculture.

Larry Zilliox 11:56

But it's so funny you use the term celebrities in ag, which I uh I kind of get because I do enjoy a YouTube channel called Laura Farms. Uh and her and her husband have a large farm in Nebraska,

YouTube Farming And Expectation Setting

Larry Zilliox 12:11

and it's very interesting. And I I really think more people should pay attention to where their food comes from. Uh in her particular instance, they have a huge farm. Uh they're row farmers, they plant soybeans and corn, and uh uh how much work it is and how much the equipment costs and how much they're in debt. I really do think that more people need to pay attention to where what it takes to get that food onto your table.

Kate Bowen 12:39

Absolutely.

Larry Zilliox 12:40

How how what do you find is the biggest problem when you're talking to a a veteran who has this idea that they want to farm? Is it setting their expectations properly? Is it just trying to get their head wrapped around how much work it is? What what do you what do you see as the number one obstacle there?

Kate Bowen 13:03

Yeah, honestly, for me as a veteran service provider, my balance is always setting really realistic goals with um not also being a dream crusher and and guiding that um measure journey. Because, you know, in our personal experience, when you're a first-generation farmer developing your customer base, it is a challenge. And yes, some people can they have that natural-born marketing. And there are examples where there are farms that are overnight successes. And, you know, for any of your listeners around the DC area, I think there's a huge amount of potential for growth. Um, but for people in remote areas who need to tease that out, it is hard. And um, but that's that's the wonderful thing I think about our military community is uh people are tough. They're able to hear those um constructive criticism moments, and then we're able to figure out um and identify the issue and move forward. So the biggest issue, though, I think I hear and I feel with our you know social media audience that follows our farm is land access and ownership. Property is really expensive around the country. Um, it

Land Access, Community, And Suicide Risk

Kate Bowen 14:18

takes you several years usually, you know, depending on what you're planting or growing to get a any sort of cash flow. Um, so if you're a Christmas tree farmer and you're gonna plant trees and not harvest them for 10 years, what are you doing in that 10 years as you're spending money on fuel and herbicides and taxes? Those are really big questions. Um so it, but part of this also is the networking piece and filling that void that getting out of the military and moving back to a rural area that isn't near a base or um, you know, maybe there's kind of a defunct small VFW and it's maybe older people and you're younger and you have a family and you want to get together with people. And so part of the American Vet Farm Network is also that camaraderie piece and figuring out a way so that you can, you know, hop on. We're gonna have an app soon where you can ask, I've got a question about haying. You know, how do I wrap these round bales? And another veteran with experience can, you know, be that uh big brother in that instance and give you some wisdom and encouragement. Um, because a lot of farming is you just need um a little bit of encouragement to move forward and and get through the tough days. And um, that very, very, very important to have that uh that piece because, you know, just like our military community, agriculture has a really high suicide rate. And that's something, you know, we take very seriously and really try to have that emotional support and networking piece because there's a lot of risk involved in ag. And you know, your favorite cow can fall over one day and die. And you really have to figure out ways to process that. You know, and as a veteran service provider, I need to be proactive about that and teaching uh that, or at least sharing that that's that's a real, that's a real possibility, and we need to figure out how to um not be caught off guard by those sort of losses.

Larry Zilliox 16:13

Yeah, well. Well, you you know, there's so much fighting against you. There's disease, there's weather, there's the market, there's uh the stress must be just crazy off the charts.

Kate Bowen 16:28

Absolutely. And a lot of our uh military veteran farmers are also entering this with physical uh you know disabilities. And uh like my husband, he needs adaptive equipment in order to farm. And

Adaptive Equipment And AgrAbility Resources

Kate Bowen 16:44

so we work really closely. There's a national organization called Agrability that's based out of Purdue, but several states also have um local, statewide agribility offices, and they're really big advocates on um, they don't just work with veterans, but they they work with anyone who needs assistive technology um in order to do what they love to do. So even if you just had a backyard gardening operation, you're not selling product, but you know, you need a way to carry five-gallon buckets so it doesn't hurt arthritis in your hand. They've got a toolbox online resource that's free for anyone to use at their website and you can scroll through and kind of see all of their, it's almost like prescriptions for all different health things, but but ways where you can, oh, you can buy this and this, you know, fits over the five-gallon bucket handle, and now I can hold it easier and it doesn't hurt. So they're a really big resource that that we work with um very frequently because it's important that we assess all of those weak spots when we're looking at farm plans so that people aren't caught off guard.

Larry Zilliox 17:46

Wow. Well, listeners, the webpage is at easeorchard.org forward slash vet farm dash network. Now, I know that's a long URL. It'll be in the show

USDA 2501 Grant And Training Events

Larry Zilliox 18:01

notes. There is also a YouTube page that they have with a great number of uh uh videos on it. I'm gonna link that in the show notes as well. Uh talk to us a little bit about this grant that you got from uh USDA.

Kate Bowen 18:18

Absolutely. So it is a three-year uh federal program. It's called the 2501 grant program. They they let them sort of people reapply every few years for them. And um, thankfully, this is a program that was not cut. Um, a lot of USD programs changed um over the last couple of years. And uh, we're very thankful that a lot of veteran uh funding was not cut. So that's awesome. Uh, and so this allows me to work full-time um on this project uh to connect with veterans doing that technical assistance farm coaching. Um, it allows us to host on farm or at a conference center. We just did one in late March in Indianapolis. We had over 78 veterans there, and we had uh more than 20 classes that day um on different agricultural topics. And we love those in-person gatherings because it's great to be able to do these online things and uh webinars and such, but it's so much better when you're actually in person and you get to share a meal with people. So we're hosting events around the country, and then we are also um doing a lot of online learning and having a resource library built as well. If anyone needs any support um around getting started in agriculture, absolutely reach out to us anytime and we'll help you out.

Larry Zilliox 19:40

So, where are you in that grant, that uh three-year phase? Where are you guys at right now?

Kate Bowen 19:45

So it it started about six months ago.

Larry Zilliox 19:48

Okay. So you got some time.

Kate Bowen 19:51

Absolutely.

Larry Zilliox 19:51

And do you think that will be renewed? Do you have a good shot at that?

Kate Bowen 19:56

I I hope so. I hope we can show that we've been an effective steward of taxpayer funds, and uh I hope we can say that we have helped a lot of veterans. So we've got a running tally right now, and uh it's growing every single day, and it's pretty exciting to see that. So it's definitely starting to take off, and the more veterans we can help, the better.

Larry Zilliox 20:17

Well, listeners, go to the web page, check it out. Um, there's tons of resources there. There's also a donate button. Bang on that donate button and give what you can. Um, that grant's not going to last forever, and uh, you know, they need

Donations, Family Farms, And Food Security

Larry Zilliox 20:32

they need to uh get donations so that when that grant expires, they can still maintain the level of service that they provide to farmers and families and communities. Look, when you have a family farming in a community and providing food at the farmers market or to local restaurants, that benefits the entire community. And we need more family farmers. I mean, family farms are disappearing at an alarming rate across the country. These large companies are buying up land, and this is really it's it's an issue, I think. But what do I know?

Kate Bowen 21:16

I'm just uh it is um it's it's it's a national security issue. I mean, that's the way we think about it, is that farms do so much, um it's it's it's something we're really gonna regret if we lose the agricultural fabric of our nation.

Larry Zilliox 21:34

Yeah, for sure. Um it's it is really it's really something. It's a it's a tough business. It's a tough business. And um I think veterans are are ideally suited for it. And look, it doesn't have to be uh, you know, growing corn or you know, herds of of cattle ranching. It could be uh beekeeping, it could be, you know, and rate and selling honey, it could be small, delicate flowers that are used by chefs on their dishes. Those are hard to get. Let me tell you, if you start a business like that and you have a lot of nice restaurants in the area where chefs can get their hands on that, they would love that. They would absolutely love that. Because right now they've got to go to a big, you know, restaurant supplier and they come from uh you know, who knows, South America somewhere, and you opened a package and half of them are dead and brown. Um, so you know, it's it's little things like that. So really check out the web page. There's tons of resources, they got great programs, and you know, uh really explore whether this is for you. It's it's not for everybody, but I I know that if you're seriously considering, and let's say you got your hands on some land or you got some money saved up or you know, or given to you, and you're gonna go looking for land, and you know, trying to match the land with your idea of what farming should be like, or you want it to be like, is something that you probably need to talk to somebody who actually has experience. And Kate is that person, and this is the organization for veterans who are interested in getting started in farming. So again, uh, listeners, we're gonna have the webpage in the show notes. Check it out, donate, um, give what you can. It's a great organization. And Kate, I can't thank you enough for joining us today.

Kate Bowen 23:41

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Larry Zilliox 23:44

Well, listeners, we'll have another episode next Monday morning at 0500. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms. We're on YouTube and Reese Across America Radio. So until then, thanks for listening.