Midwest group creates new program geared toward women veterans

One Midwestern group is trying to take women from the battleground, to the farming ground.

The Women Food and Agriculture Network, a group that mainly works in Iowa and Nebraska to focus on empowering women farmers, is turning toward women veterans to possibly make up next generation of farmers in Iowa.

'It's really kind of a natural combination,” said Leigh Adcock, executive director of the Women Food and Agriculture Network.

The idea for the program arose last fall, and after receiving a $25,000 grant from Newman's Own Foundation, program implementation began.

The program aims to provide farming opportunities for women veterans, who make up the fastest growing demographic for both beginning farmers and military veterans. Despite the growing population, Adcock said they are having difficulty making women veterans aware of the program.

'We've put information out at all the veteran's centers, but most veterans, unless they're receiving services from the centers, don't pay much attention,” she said, adding this is not due to a lack of interest. 'The ones we do reach show they're very interested.”

The veterans' program has roughly half a dozen interested participants in Iowa and Nebraska, with their goal being to have eight veterans involved in learning farming.

Sonia Kendrick, a mentor for the program and veteran, said farming can provide an ideal opportunity for veterans who are getting back to civilian life.

'Through farming, I've found purpose in my life,” said Kendrick, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] when she returned home from Afghanistan. 'Now I can live a quasi-normal life. It keeps me sane and keeps me grounded. I want to help other veterans find a way to be grounded, to find some peace.”

It is known that veterans may have difficulty finding employment after leaving the military, but women veterans have a higher unemployment rate of male veterans, at 9.6 and 8.8 percent respectively, according to a Reuters article. Kendrick said veterans have the exact qualities needed to make good farmers, and the women could be the future of farming.

'Veterans make great farmers because we're hard workers, we're not afraid of a challenge,” she said. 'People think of the military as mindlessly obeying orders, but when we learn how to follow, we can come out as leaders. Veterans are the ideal candidates for the next generation of farmers.”

Ashley Wilson, a State of Iowa veteran that is in the program to continue her knowledge about farming from when she lived on a farm, said plans to go into farming after finishing the program to teach her five children where their food comes from. She added liked this specific program because of the unique aspect of another woman teaching her farming skills.

'The nice thing is they match you with another female,” the Newton resident said. 'You can't learn much from a guy farming, because women just do different things when it comes to farming. They raise their animals different, they grow food differently.”

The program will soon reach out to even more veterans by hosting events in Des Moines and most likely Iowa City or Cedar Rapids in the summer. In addition to the farming program on farm land, there also will be a place for veterans to ask farmers their questions online. For a wider audience, the program plans on holding workshops that they hope will draw in larger numbers of interested women veterans.

In addition to the program helping women veterans learn new skills, Kendrick said their work will benefit the community as well. All of the food grown will go to local food banks, and help the growing issue of food insecurity. The solution to the problem is simply focusing on getting more farmers.

'[The number of hungry people] is unacceptable, especially in the Heartland of America when you think of farmers and food,” she said. 'The reality of it is nothing is going to make new farmers unless we invest in them. They're not going to grow on trees.”

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