You ’ve listen of turning swords into share . How about turn soldier into farmers ?
secret groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have launch programs signify to recruit former service members into the agricultural ranks .
One individual group , the Farmer Veteran Coalition , is based in Davis . It was found in 2008 by Michael O’Gorman , who leave a 40 - year career in production agriculture to get down helping vet , after read medium reports indicating a disproportional number of troops do in Iraq and Afghanistan had roots in rural America .
Evan Eagan , the coalition ’s communicating manager , said the governance works with stager with no experience in USDA , vet who are go out the religious service to deliver to a family farm or those who are starting their own operation .
Cal Zamora , a Marine turned flower grower , gain help from the alignment as he launched his farm , Zamora Flora .
Zamora served in the Marines from 2003 to 2008 and was deploy to Iraq in 2007 .
" A great thing I noticed in Iraq is , I ’d see the abasement of the demesne , " he read . " I was on the Euphrates River , and the desert come right up to 50 yards from the river . So they had plenty of water , but they could n’t farm anything . "
The dirt , he said , was salinated to the compass point of being toxic . Zamora say the experience taught him " how of import it is to take care of the estate , have stewardship of it , and control that that sort of affair does n’t happen to your best farmland . "
That eventually led him to the California Farm Academy , run by the Center for Land - Based Learning in Winters , where he and his wife Aubrianne enrol in 2016 . When employ to the academy , Zamora learned of the Farmer Veteran Coalition .
" They got me a encyclopedism in parliamentary law to go to the California Farm Academy , so that my wife and I were both able-bodied to go through it , " Zamora say .
At first , the Zamoras imagine about raise chickens , but determine they lack the money for the inauguration costs .
Zamora ’s Clarence Day caper at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon play him into striking with florists . After a merchandising instructor separate him he had a " built - in client lean right on there , " he determine to judge flower rise .
Zamora Flora just wrap up its 2nd grow time of year , on property rent from the Center for Land - free-base Learning . Zamora said he produce 117 varieties this twelvemonth , include azalea and sunflowers .
" One thing I like about bloom farming is that we experimented a lot , " he order . " We grew small amounts of a deal of unlike things — see how it work , see how our client liked it . "
The Zamoras sold most of their output signal this yr at Fannie Merritt Farmer markets in Petaluma and Novato . Next year , he say , he project to add more vegetables to his card .
Zamora Flora also is one of 63 veteran - operated farm in California — and some 1,400 nationwide — deal part in the Homegrown by Heroes plan , a selling recording label for nutrient and other products grown or raised by veterans .
Read more at AgAlert ( Kevin Hecteman ) - story credit : California Farm Bureau Federation
