Welcome to Arcadia's Veteran Farmer Program, a USDA-endorsed beginning farmer training program especially for military veterans.
The Veteran Farmer Program has two learning tracks. This application is for the Veteran Farmer Reserve.
The first is the Veteran Farmer Reserve, a 12-month tuition based program that takes place one weekend a month, typically the last.
The second track is the Veteran Farm Fellowship, a full-time, 9-month, paid, on-farm apprenticeship at our farm in Southeast Fairfax County. Fellows are also required to participate in the year-long Veteran Reserve weekends. To apply for that program, please copy and paste this into your browser:
https://forms.gle/Zr8pyTqsDbyLvxXQ8The Reserve Program will launch its program year in January 2020.
About the program:
The Veteran Farmer Program grounds veterans in the science and art of cultivation; helps them develop practical farm skills; exposes them to the multitude of opportunities in sustainable agriculture; and allows them to emerge from the program with a business plan for their current or future operation. It's hard work but it is also really, really fun. You'll be with like-minded people, expand your network and your thinking, and be prepared to turn your fantasy of farming into a reality. It won't be easy, but it will be satisfying work.
Our program is effective. More than a third of the veterans and active-duty servicemembers and spouses trained so far have launched businesses, seven have already started farming or planning farms on newly purchased land, family land, or leased land. Four attended a week-long agroforestry academy with full scholarships through their involvement with Arcadia. Three attended the annual Farmer Veteran Coalition conference.
We continue to engage and support these new farmers (and now friends) as they build new careers in agriculture.
We are currently training 26 veterans in the same program, and they are tapping into previous classes as a resource and network.
The curriculum will be adjusted as necessary to respond to what is growing on Arcadia farm, the weather, newly published works, and the schedules of guest instructors and partner farms.
RESERVE:
The Veteran Farmer Reserve Program is a tuition-based training program that takes place one weekend a month for 12 months beginning in January 2020. Program participants are required to complete an additional 40 hours of individual on-farm work hours scheduled 8AM-1PM Monday-Saturday May-November.
Based at Arcadia Farm at Woodlawn in Alexandria, VA, outside the gates of Fort Belvoir, but extending into the rural areas surrounding the national capital region, this training is for participants who are committed to learning how to grow food professionally and to planning a successful farm business operation. This is not gardening education; we are creating the next generation of farmers.
You must be willing to travel to our farm and to surrounding farms on scheduled weekends, bearing transportation costs.
Full and partial scholarships based on financial need and mitigating circumstances, to include travel expenses, are possible.
FELLOWSHIP:
The Fellowship is a modestly paid, full-time position assisting and learning from our farmers at our vegetable farm. Arcadia's program is an approved VA On-The-Job training program and participants are eligible to access their GI Bill benefits to supplement their income. The total amount depends on the level of GI Bill benefits each Fellow has remaining.
You must be available to work Monday through Friday on our farm in southern Fairfax County, VA. Public transportation is available but often slow, so private transportation is recommended.
WHO SHOULD APPLY: Veterans with honorable or general discharges and active and reserve military personnel. Military spouses will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with preference given to those with a spouse in the program.
WHEN TO APPLY: We are accepting members of the Reserve on a rolling basis; please do not delay applying as class size is limited.
DEADLINES: Reserve Application Nov. 30
WHAT RESERVE PARTICIPANTS CAN EXPECT: Each monthly weekend seminar will include some combination of the following:
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Classroom time structured around farm and business practices
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Practical cultivation skills and hands-on work on the farm or in the greenhouse
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Field visits to other farms or agricultural operations
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Independent reading to be completed before each monthly seminar
We will cover:
Farm Business Law & Taxes
Botany Basics
Soil Science
Cover Cropping
Crop Planning
Crop Rotation
Greenhouse Skills
Cultivation
Tractor O&M
Harvesting
Land Assessment
Pest & Disease Management
Financing
Branding
Marketing
Recordkeeping
Quickbooks Basics
Business Planning
You will receive textbooks; two delicious home-cooked meals and snacks each day of group training; one-on-one and small-group instruction; and individual support and consultation between training weekends. After you graduate, you'll continue on in our network of graduates, with learning, social, and business opportunities forwarded to you as they arise.
You will train alongside other veterans and military personnel.
Most training days begin before 9 am and last until 5 pm. We do not currently offer housing so participants who are traveling from out of the area make their own arrangements. This is taken into account with scholarships.
WHAT IS REQUIRED OF PARTICIPANTS:
$1,995 tuition. Full and partial scholarships are available based on financial need
--$300 deposit due in January. The deposit is refundable to full scholarship trainees with the satisfactory completion of the program as well as to those who pay full tuition.
--40 on-farm work hours at Arcadia or partner farms. This can be completed with one full work day per month between February and November at Arcadia, or two week-long internships at partner farms, or some combination thereof.
--We allow no more than 4 days of absences from the weekend training program for successful completion of the program and return of deposits to scholarship students.
Reserve Farmers are required to pay attention to detail, complete assigned tasks, readings, and records; to report directly to Arcadia farmers for instruction, observation, and direction; to articulate observations, questions, and needs, and to operate in a safe manner at all times. Reservists must also have access to reliable transportation. Above all, Reservists need to enjoy what we do, and keep a positive attitude, a sense of humor, curiosity, and goodwill.
Anticipated 2020 Reserve Program Training Dates (please be available for both days, every weekend):
Jan. 25/26
Feb. 22/23
March 28/29
April 25/26
May 30/31
June 27/28
July 25/26
Aug 29/30
Sept 26/27
Oct 24/25
Nov 21/22
December 12/13
With gratitude to our sponsors who have made the Veteran Farmer Program possible:
USDA
Boeing
Grace Communications Foundation
Neighborhood Restaurant Group
Nestle
Northrop Grumman
Prince Charitable Trusts
Jen Walker Realty
