In the United States alone, there are nearly 20 million veterans.
ICYMI, Food Tank developed a listing of 21 organizations from around the world that are working to help veterans (and their families) through farming and agriculture. The listings include programs from Texas to Cambodia. The authors invite you to email them with information about other programs serving veterans that they may have missed.
You can read the Food Tank piece by clicking here.
A historical note: Connecting veterans to possibilities with the land dates back in America to the pre-Revolutionary War era, when veterans of the French and Indian War – the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War being fought in Europe – received land grants for their military service. During the World War I (WWI) era, the University of California collaborated with the State of California to create two land settlement colonies, which also served returning WWI veterans.
The California Land Settlement Act of 1917 provided funds to buy more than 6,000 acres in Butte County, and the Durham colony was started there. A second colony – Delhi – was started in Merced County. For more information, you can click on this link to reach a free Google document that contains primary source (i.e., from the period) material about the Durham and Delhi colonies. It is entitled “How California Helps Men Own Farms and Rural Homes” and was published by the State Land Settlement Board in June 1920. It’s packed full of information about who participated, what crops were produced and how the social and cultural life of these communities developed and played out.
“It points a way to take care of such returned soldiers and sailors as have a true longing for the farm. Immediately after the armistice we were almost shell-shocked by the noise that rent the skies – to put the returned soldier on a grant of land…”
The University of California has digitized several hundred images of life on the state’s land settlement colonies. To access the gallery, click here.