WASHINGTON – With the average
age of a farmer approaching 60 and the post-9/11 veteran unemployment
rate of over 4.5 percent, Congress members John Faso (R, NY-19) and Ann
McLane Kuster (D, NH-2) introduced legislation to address both issues.
The current legislation is set to expire next year and Faso said is makes “commonsense” to renew it to continue to serve the farming community and veterans.
“Basically what we do is we give grants to non-profits and they run training – seminars, financial seminars, agricultural sustainability seminars – and they basically give the instruction, the necessary business tools that a veteran or young farmer would need in order to succeed in agriculture,” he said.
The legislation has served the nation’s farmers for 30 years, noted Margo Hale, Southeast regional director and Armed to Farm director for the National Center for Appropriate Technology.
