Turner Farm Veteran’s Program
Turner Farm, Inc., a certified organic 501(c)3 organization is hiring for our 2014 Turner Farm Veteran’s Program (TFVP). Qualified applicants must have served on active duty, received an honorable discharge, and are now interested in pursuing agriculture as a career.
The TFVP is a two-year program. In the first year, the veteran will work full time as part of the Turner Farm garden crew, during which time he or she will be responsible for learning how to work an organic vegetable garden from seed to table, including farmers market experience as well as managing groups of volunteers to accomplish large tasks. Additionally, there are weekly classroom sessions to cover foundational botany and horticulture topics necessary for successful production.
In the second year, a successful first year veteran will be offered the opportunity to grow on his or her own on Turner Farm land delegated to the TFVP. Turner Farm will provide permanent infrastructure, while the veteran will create a business plan that he or she will follow for the second season.
Throughout both years the veteran will be paid an hourly wage of $12 per hour. In the second year, the veteran will be responsible for the costs of season-specific inputs, and will benefit from any profits beyond the value of their salary. The veteran is not obligated to work this second year, but we believe it is a very valuable, extremely low-risk opportunity to try one’s hand at making a farming business for oneself.
About Turner Farm
Turner Farm is a 60-acre certified organic farm in the northeast corner of Hamilton County, Ohio. We operate a number of Community Supported Agriculture programs through which members earn through work and pay in cash for their food. All produce is certified organic, and all meat, including chicken, pork, and lamb, is pastured and naturally raised. We have a wide variety of educational opportunities: classes, workshops, volunteer events, summer camp, pumpkin patch tours and more, and are heavily invested in our community.
Why the Turner Farm Veteran’s Program?
Turner Farm’s founder, Bonnie Mitsui, was inspired by the work of the Farmer Veteran Coalition to provide returning warriors with the opportunity to apply their skills to another important task: feeding our communities with healthy locally produced food. Bonnie envisioned a farm-training program designed to teach military veterans to farm, including complex experiences beyond those that a summer internship at the farm provides.
The two-year TFVP, still in its nascent stages, has the following goals:
· To train veterans in the basic skills of small-scale organic farming
· To assist veterans in business and market planning
· To connect veterans with other members of the Cincinnati food community
· To build the veteran’s farming confidence and experience by providing the opportunity to apply learned skills at the TFVP farming site.
Future goals of the program include helping veterans to find land and access financing to start their own agricultural businesses.