Seven years ago today, February 12, 2009, Farmer Veteran Coalition began pursuing its mission of mobilizing veterans to feed America. With little money, but lots of real life farming experience, I decided to try to galvanize support from our agricultural community for the men and women who were returning to rural America after serving our nation at war.
Agriculture is America’s most decentralized, family-owned industry and one in desperate need of help. Our efforts have brought together the USDA, the Farm Bureau, Farm Credit, Farmers Union and dozens of organizations dedicated to developing a new generation of farmers – all on behalf of our veterans.
Our leadership and our collaborative nature, combined with a focus on supporting those veterans who wanted to farm, has made us a lean and effective organization. Most of our funders came to us and have stayed with us over the years. We are in no way qualified to judge how other veteran nonprofits run their organizations, but we are proud of ours. If you want to learn more, let us know.
Michael O’Gorman
Founder and Director
Farmer Veteran Coalition
