The Defense Department will integrate agriculture into the career training and counseling programs offered to members of the armed services as they leave the military, the administration announced. About 200,000 troops leave complete military service each year. “Rural America disproportionately sends its sons and daughters to serve in the military,” said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Krysta Harden in a statement. “When service members return home, we want them to know that rural America has a place for them – no matter where they’re from.”
In related news, UC-Santa Cruz describes “how military veterans become organic farmers” through a program at its Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. “Farmers and soldiers share many of the same character traits: They are disciplined, resolute, determined, purposeful, and resilient.”