Executive Director Comments: Building FVC for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery

disaster map

In 2020 the Farmer Veteran Coalition was contemplating organizational changes and made the strategic decision to establish 10 regions to build out our chapters.

At the time, the idea was that farmers in neighboring states could assist each other with mentoring because they would be growing the same type of crops, have the same pest pressures, trade issues, input costs, and marketing concerns.

What we have learned these past 60 days is that they also share the same weather, and when the weather turns dangerous, we quickly see that our Veterans not only serve their local communities in their time of need, but also other Veterans.

I am so proud of the leadership teams and our members in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Intuitively they simply reached out to each other to assist as needed. THANK YOU for being such a wonderful example of service to us all and a wonderful representation of our organization.

Previously, I have written about the Extension Risk Management Education grant that FVC is participating in with Native American Financial Services. This grant work will have us discussing the many ways risk can be mitigated, but also will discuss how to recover from loss. Early next year we will be visiting nine states, so please check the newsletter, and join us if you can.

As FVC staff were developing our presentation for the workshop, we went to our local Barnes and Noble bookstore and started looking at the most recent books, guides, and checklists available.

Almost immediately we noticed that many of the top-selling books were written by Veterans. The skills you learned to serve our country have made many members experts in developing emergency plans, assembling emergency kits for evacuation, and identifying the actions to take during distinct types of disasters.

At the county level, the department typically responsible for preparing the “Emergency Operation Plan” (EOP) is the Office of Emergency Management (OEM). This department is tasked with planning for, responding to, and recovering from large-scale emergencies and disasters − which include creating and maintaining the EOP.

While the OEM leads the planning process, it collaborates with various other county departments like fire, police, public health, and public works to ensure comprehensive coverage in the emergency plan. Counties always ask for public input − and you need to give it!

We feel so strongly about our Farmer Veterans being prepared that this year we will be including a page in the Fellowship Fund application that asks applicants to identify and list basic local resources that could assist them.

We want our Veterans to research and provide a basic outline of how they will respond to disasters that are typical in their area, how they will communicate, and how they will evacuate not only their families but their animals.

We will be discussing emergency preparedness at the conference.

The entire staff of FVC are excited to see everyone at our Annual Stakeholder Conference in Kansas City at the end of the month! We have 20 or so tickets left before we sell out, so it is not too late to come and join the farm tours, networking, and learning!

It always feels like one big family reunion.

See you soon. Until then, have a safe and abundant harvest.

Jeanette