Where to Learn Organic Farming in an Internship Job If You're A Veteran: Help America to Eat More Local Fruits & Vegetables

Check out the March 27, 2011 Sacramento Bee article by Anne Gonzales, "Sacramento farmer coalition has intern jobs for veterans." If you're interested in become a Sacramento farmer and into the green life, you might apply to become an intern at a Sacramento urban farm, where you will learn how to cultivate the soil, nurture plants and provide a safe food supply for the Sacramento and regional communities. Where can you learn to be a Sacramento urban farmer?

Apply for an internship at Soil Born Farms. Sacramento's Soil Born Farms allows youth and adults to rediscover and participate in a system of food production and distribution that promotes healthy living. The location of Soil Born Farms is at 3000 Hurley Way, Sacramento, CA 95864. See the website, Soil Born Farms: Urban Farms. You can participate in an agricultural and educational project.

One way to land an internship with Soil Born Farms if you're a military veteran is through the Davis-based Farmer Veteran Coalition, which is a program gaining national attention for its work in recruiting fresh blood to a declining U.S. farming industry while training returning veterans, many of them injured or disabled, for employment. The Farmer Veteran Coalition is located at 221 G Street, Suite 204, Davis, CA 95616. Learn about organic farming and how to manage organic vegetable operations. The project creates jobs for veterans returning home, including veterans with disabilities and no jobs.

Sacramento needs more people in agriculture, especially younger people, because the local area's farmers are beginning to retire. The coalition helps veterans who served after 9/11, giving them opportunities in farming or helping them expand or advance in agriculture- related jobs or companies. The program is close to UC Davis's School of Agriculture.

How the coalition can help you is through hosting career fairs, conferences, and retreats that train veterans in farming methods and management. You also can learn specialized skills in the veterinary, mechanical, agronomy, distribution, sales, horticulture, viticulture and beekeeping fields. Much of the support to veterans comes in the form of one-on-one advice from staffers and volunteers.

There are also opportunities beyond Sacramento in Los Angeles, for example or in other states such as the groups in Iowa, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania. AT&T awarded large grants for a farm mentor program. For example, a person learning to be a farmer can be matched up with an experienced farmer to learn how to farm. Also the Bob Woodruff Foundation gives direct support to veterans with a disability, brain injury, or who have been otherwise wounded in military service, who want to train to become farmers.

Farming is an opposite action to war, for example, by nurturing, growing, and nourishing plants that will become food. It gives unemployed vets a role in contributing to the economy and the country's standing. A large number of Sacramento veterans are unemployed. According to the Dept. of Veterans affairs, a recent study noted that nationally 2 million young veterans have served since 2001, and as many as 500,000 could be unemployed when they get home, or earn less than needed to provide for their families.

If you're a veteran with a brain injury, disability, or post-traumatic stress, you may feel better outdoors learning how to be a farmer or farm manager rather than go into a job where you'd be cramped in an office cubicle or have to deal with difficult customer service situations. Farming, like gardening can be expansive and one way to de-stress. The reality is that most U.S. farmers are growing old. The average age of an American farmer is in his or her late fifties. Two farmers retire for every new farmer beginning work.

Organic produce is a nourishing business focused on providing nutrition. The internships are on small, organic farms not with huge industrial food processing plants. By working with smaller, organic farms, a veteran can create cleaner food supplies or work with people who supply farmers' markets and other outlets for the produce.

Organic farms also don't expose the vets working outdoors to synthetic pesticides and toxins. The trend in Sacramento is toward running the small, organic farm. It's about keeping the food clean and safe. For veterans, it's a chance to keep food production in the USA.

Maybe for some vets, it's also a national security issue to have local organic vegetables in the community. If you become a farmer you can serve your country by feeding Sacramento and other areas of America locally grown organic produce. You'd be close to the end user of what you produce. Some of the local farms are in Sacramento, Davis, or Fairfield. You also can help farmers transition to organic farming in the local area. Farmers also have the ability to sell produce to local restaurants or at stands on the farm site.

You might live in a tent at Soil Born Farms to do your internship and learn how to farm so you could replace farmers who are retiring. It's healthy to reconnect with food sources without breathing in insecticides. You don't have to suffer from a disability or anxiety to apply, but you need to be a veteran.

Farm work for someone coming home from combat duty can provide just the peace of mind you would want to experience. The coalition hopes to reach 15,000 more veterans in the next 3 to 5 years. Check out the Farmer Veteran Coalition and see whether this is an experience or internship for you. See the article, Sacramento farmer coalition has intern jobs for veterans. You can serve your country by helping to grow local, organic fruits and vegetables in the Sacramento area.

You can serve your country by helping to grow local, organic fruits and vegetables in the Sacramento or Davis area. Or choose another area. One of the benefits of farming is your ability through activities to help get rid of stress and anxiety by working at your own pace outdoors doing organic farming of fruits and vegetables.