By Deborah R. Huso
Progressive Farmer Contributing Editor

Garrett Dwyer returned to farming after combat, thanks to a University of Nebraska program. (Progressive Farmer image by Scott Kingsley)

Like many young people, Garrett Dwyer wanted to see what lay beyond his family’s 5,000-acre farm before settling down. So in 2004, he traded in the Sand Hills of Nebraska for the U.S. Marines Corps.

“After being in Iraq, I decided taking over the ranch was what I wanted to do,” says the 24-year-old. Dwyer is the fifth generation on his farm, but he knew ranching full time was going to take capital he didn’t have. Dwyer’s dad had cut down his cow herd when his son joined the Marines, knowing he couldn’t manage it all by himself.

But while serving overseas, Dwyer heard about the 100 Beef Cow Ownership Advantage Program through the University of Nebraska–Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NCTA). Part of a two-year Associate’s degree program for training young farmers, the program sets up qualified young farmers with a 2 to 3% USDA FSA loan to buy 100 head of cattle.

Dwyer took advantage of the program to rebuild his family’s ranch. His enthusiasm and success with the program helped inspire NCTA’s newly established Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots (CBTCB) that helps young veterans returning from combat zones go into farming (www.ncta.unl.edu).

“We were trying to come up with ideas for how to reinvigorate rural communities,” says Richard Mestas, associate dean, NCTA. With young people leaving rural America and farming, many are going straight into the military. While rural Americans make up only one-sixth of the U.S. population, they represent 45% of the Armed Forces.

A Return To Farming

NCTA wanted to get rural Americans back on the farm when they returned from war. “To revitalize rural areas, we need to send students back to the farm as owners instead of as hired hands,” adds Weldon Sleight, NCTA dean.

The CBTCB program is designed to do just that. In addition to learning innovative farming techniques, risk management and business planning, students can partner with a farmer mentor who will often provide land and expertise in exchange for work.

Dwyer partnered with his dad, who provides him land for his beef cattle in exchange for his labor and management of both their herds.

Nationwide Support

NCTA says CBTCB is available to anyone nationwide, and veterans can use their G.I. bills to pay for it. They hope to become part of a larger network of such programs around the country; one is the California-based Farmer-Veteran Coalition (www.farmvetco.org).

The coalition got its start when founder Michael O’Gorman realized how many veterans were coming home to rural communities but were unable to find employment.

Though only in its third year, the coalition has helped 65 returning veterans get back on their feet in agriculture. Some of the veterans own and operate their own farms, some work in managerial positions on agricultural operations, and some engage in farm work as a way to recover from the psychological wounds of serving in combat overseas.

“My real interest is finding veterans who want a long-term career in agriculture,” says O’Gorman.

The CBTCB program has the same goal. But it also emphasizes the importance of infusing the nation’s ag communities with young people. “These young men and women have to start early to own a million-dollar enterprise, which is essentially what a farm is,” adds NCTA’s Sleight.

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