New Jersey veteran Stephen Robinson thinks about the logistics of growing mushrooms and sending them to farmers’ markets and restaurants — a far cry from the logistics he managed as an Army convoy commander during battles in Iraq.
He runs an urban farm in south New Jersey called Urban Farmer Steve, where he grows mushrooms, microgreens, vegetables and flowers.
“Mushrooms have become my passion, I eat a lot of mushrooms, grow mushrooms for farmer markets and restaurants,” he said. Farming and being around agriculture “just gives me life, gives me energy — and gives me hope.”
Veterans like Robinson are steadily flocking to agriculture, a field historically intertwined with the military — 1 in every 6 farms has a producer who is currently serving or who has served in the military. However, in recent years, the number of military farmers has dropped. In 2022, the U.S. had 305,753 producers who had served or were serving in the military, according to a Department of Agriculture census, declining 18% from 2017.
To help stem the decline, provide career opportunities and attract a changing veteran demographic, training programs focused on bringing veterans back to the fields have been launched. Robinson sees himself as part of a new crop of farmers, a city dweller who grew up in Philadelphia and New Jersey and returned from war to an urban environment.
A Black veteran, Robinson envisions helping others in his community learn about the opportunities he says abound in farming even in the city — and there are resources and opportunities available for people “who might look different.”
From the battlefield to urban fields
Robinson couldn’t have envisioned his journey when he signed up for the military during his freshman year in college, right after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“It brought the country together,” said Robinson.
His father served in the Navy and the Air Force, so it seemed like a natural fit. He was commissioned as an officer in 2003, but before he finished his four-year degree, he was deployed to Iraq in 2005.
“It was a very hot time when I was there, we were shot at, bombed,” said Robinson, now 41 years old. “We were out on the road with IEDs, we were in the thick of things at that time.”
He left military service in 2010 and, like many other veterans, didn’t know what to do next. He had a hard time transitioning from a type of environment where you are “on edge” all of the time, “are trained to be vigilant,” and “always ready for an attack or “for something insane to happen.”
“It’s hard to turn that off or turn that down once you get out of the military,” he said.
“I still haven’t adjusted to civilian life, to be completely honest,” Robinson added. “It’s something we are all still working on.”
He cycled through a few jobs — including as a claims representative with the Social Security Administration — but couldn’t find the right fit.
Then he found Veterans to Farmers, a Colorado-based not-for-profit, through online research. Marine Corps veteran Buck Adams launched the organization in 2013 after five years of running his own farm, Circle Fresh Farms, and training veterans in agriculture.
Since its inception and first training programs, veterans have helmed the organization. Navy veteran and executive director Taylor Drew participated in the program in 2017. Now he farms in the mountains of Northwest Colorado with his wife and three kids.
“It’s a good life but a hard living,” Drew said, adding he’s never been more content after stumbling around for a few years after leaving the military.
Drew helps manage the organization and what he says is the overwhelming need to move veterans into farming. He says their tiny organization has trained 220 veterans since 2013 and the network is “really strong.”
Supported by a mix of government funds and private donations with a rough budget of $250,000 annually, Drew said the group had 150 applications last year for the 18 slots in their hydroponics (controlled farming) program.
Participant and Navy veteran John Bauman, who is from Chicago, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and now rents two plots of land near Denver, selling his produce at farmers markets. His first crop was carrots, and said farming helps him “feel better.”
A new type of farmer
As the number of veterans living in the U.S. declines, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, its demographics are also shifting. Population models show women, Hispanics, Blacks and adults under 50 will make up a large proportion of the veteran population by 2048, according to a 2023 study from Pew Research Center, shifting the needs of veterans interested in farming. The Department of Agriculture’s census found Black farmers with military service also increased accounting for 2.5% of producers with military service, compared to 1.2% of all U.S. producers.
“We must do more to support apprenticeships and train the next generation of farmers,” Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, wrote in a report on the county’s rapidly aging farmers. Americans are more likely to meet a farmer over the age of 65 than under the age of 44, and with a global increase of 2 billion people expected by 2050 – there needs to be enough farmers to grow food. “The food supply, select manufacturing industries, and even national security hinge on the future of farming,” said Braun.
Supporting urban farmers could be part of the solution, urban farmers are generally younger than the overall farming population, with an average age of 44, with 32% making a living from farming, according to a National Center for Appropriate Technology report.
The Veterans Administration offers numerous programs for veterans to learn how to farm, and other not-for-profits provide services, such as Armed to Farm, which offers a program in urban farming in New Orleans and the Farmer Veteran Coalition, which offers support for veterans entering the field.
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency has provided $862 million in total loans through October 31, the federal agency told CBS News, helping more than 4,000 veterans but many say the demand far outstrips the supply.
“We’re seeing a continued rise in interest across the veteran demographic for building a life and career centered around agriculture – both in urban and rural settings,” Jaime Wood, the director for Strategic Initiatives at USDA, which works to support the veteran population, told CBS News. She said USDA has a full-time veteran liason on the team who’s previously served in the military.
Urban techniques bring old-fashioned fulfillment
Robinson applied to participate in the Veterans to Farmers program in the fall of 2021 The pandemic gave him the extra push into farming, he said. “I saw limited food and a lack of produce,”
He started the 8-10 week program in 2022, flying between New Jersey to Denver for the hydroponic program, which is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil.
On Mondays, the veterans enrolled in the program received a crash course in “Agriculture 101” and on Tuesdays, they had hands-on work on different farms and visits to learn about farming operations.
Because he lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which has cold winters, Robinson thought it was important to learn hydroponic farming, which regulates the growing environment and allows a lot of control over what has been grown and how.
“It’s very consistent, too,” he said.
Robinson started farming microgreens, which he said doesn’t take a lot of up-front investment and can grow within 10-14 days. He soon expanded his microgreen offerings to include lettuce, herbs and mushrooms, which are easier to grow in an urban environment. He sells them to restaurants and at farmers’ markets and to consumers.
Researchers at the National Center for Appropriate Technology found urban farmers can raise crops and livestock and also be structured around “social aspects related to urban agriculture, which include food security, building communities, and education.”
Urban agriculture has its limitations, with research showing, half of urban farms surveyed in 2013 had sales of around $10,000 and had to have another form of income to survive. Urban farms often don’t have the scale to grow large amounts of food and instead focus on selling niche products to low-volume customers, emphasizing quality and price over quantity, research found.
Robinson said regardless of challenges he’s committed to growing his business because it’s not just about money, but also personal fulfillment. Learning to farm has completely changed his perspective and life over the past two years and he doesn’t struggle as he used to.
“When you are connected to the earth, you are grounded to the earth,” said Robinson. “I feel like you get all that from farming.”
Farming keeps him rooted in his community and his life’s mission has shifted from taking lives to “just being around life.”
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