Veterans Find Purpose on the Farm

# How farming is being used to ease the veteran transition

After military service, many veterans struggle with loss of structure, community and purpose. In North Carolina, The Veteran's Farm offers a concrete option: agricultural training that pairs practical skills with peer support and business planning so veterans can explore farming as a career or lifestyle.

Why agriculture?

North Carolina has an older farmer population and a large agricultural economic footprint. The Veteran's Farm aims to connect veterans who want a structured, practical path into that workforce. Program leaders present farming as a way to rebuild routine and camaraderie while learning marketable production and business skills.

Programs and how they work

The nonprofit runs several training tracks targeted at different needs:

• Veterans Agricultural Training and Education Program (VATEP): a five-month course with classroom instruction, labs, farm tours and progressively deeper hands-on farm experience. The second half of the course focuses on individualized projects, a farm business plan and added field time.

• Soldiers to Agriculture: a five-week introductory course now offered through N.C. Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County.

Classes teach core agricultural techniques, then move participants into practical projects and planning so they leave with something tangible: experience, a project resume item and a business foundation.

Money, scale and intent

Assembly included a $250,000 nonrecurring directed grant for The Veteran's Farm in the 2026 budget. Program leadership says the funds will help expand programming and provide support for veterans in crisis who are waiting for VA benefits.

Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler is quoted describing the program as providing "a solid educational foundation and mentors to help them prepare for a career in farming." The grant addresses two linked state concerns: veteran transition and recruitment of new farmers as the average U.S. farm operator ages.

Participant experience

Founding director Robert Elliott, who served five years in the Marine Corps and later worked as a Department of Defense contractor, returned to farming after struggling with the transition back to civilian life. He said, "I started going down to a really dark place in my mind." Farming restored his sense of purpose and inspired the nonprofit he founded in 2015.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew Scruggs enrolled after learning about the program through his wife. He described the program's practical value: the training shows how to "start in a smart, controlled way that fits your capabilities, instead of slinging out $200,000 on equipment and going down the wrong path." That pragmatic approach is central: the program teaches scaled starts rather than high-risk capital commitments.

What the program offers beyond skills

Where this fits in the bigger picture

Farm responds to two concrete problems: veterans needing stable transition pathways and an agricultural sector seeking younger entrants. The recent grant will fund program growth and emergency support for veterans in crisis, strengthening the nonprofit's capacity to match veterans with agricultural opportunities.

For veterans considering a career or side business in farming, the program offers a stepwise, mentor-backed way to test the work, learn essential production and develop a business plan without large upfront expenditures.