October 28, 2014 – After debuting in dozens of cities and towns around the United States including California, the award-winning documentary Ground Operations: Battlefields to Farmfields is finally coming to the Monterey Bay area. Moving and informative, it portrays the experience of combat veterans who are finding their right livelihood in farming. Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance it will screen at the Veteran’s Hall in downtown Santa Cruz on Saturday, November 8 from 7-9:30 pm. The event also features farm-fresh food from Local Harvest Catering using produce from the Homeless Garden Project, and a robust conversation with an expert panel.
The film is part of a social action campaign that champions the growing network of combat veterans who are transitioning to careers as sustainable farmers, ranchers and artisan food producers. The campaign’s goal is to help get them started and help build their resources so that they can create healthy new lives for themselves, and food security for communities across America. The film was an official selection of the Esalen Social Change Film Festival in 2013.
Producer Dulanie Ellis is on a mission. The film’s tagline is, “America needs a million new farmers. Veterans want the job.” In fact, 800,000 veterans are unemployed in the United States, and there are eight times as many farmers over the age of 65 as there are under the age of 35. Half of America’s farmers will soon be retiring.
“For our own food security, it is critical to train in a new generation of food producers,” says Ellis. “Veterans are uniquely suited to the challenges and opportunities of agriculture, but they need specific education, mentoring, financial assistance and community support as they develop the art and craft of sustainable agriculture.”
Farming can be a great career match for many vets, since growing food offers purpose and opportunity as well as physical and psychological benefits. The opportunity to feed people around the nation or the globe may become a new mission. It may also be a salve for soldiers who return damaged in body, mind or soul.
Statistically, many veterans hail from farming communities, so farming is a familiar livelihood. For example, Jason Sweatt, who founded the Santa Cruz Veteran’s Alliance, was raised in a Lower Alabama farming community. He enlisted in the Army soon after high school, and after 10 years of military service he was ready to get back to his roots – but this time in the halcyon land of Santa Cruz. Proud of participating in the film Sweatt says “Ground Operations is an excellent portrayal of combat veterans in agriculture. For me, being part of a powerful movement is awesome.”
Ellis was encouraged to bring the film to Santa Cruz by her friend Mark Lipson, the former USDA policy advisor on organic and sustainable agriculture, who is a member of the Molino Creek Farming Collective in Davenport. “Ground Operations is a captivating film–honest and direct,” he says. Ellis says she is excited to show the film here because of its “two fabulous training programs in organic agriculture, each quite different, including the UCSC Center for Agro-Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture (CASFS), and the Homeless Garden Project.” Staff from both organizations will join Ellis, Lipson and Sweatt on the panel.
Some organizations, such as the Davis-based Farmer Veteran Coalition focus specifically on vets. “The goal is to hook up the latest generation of veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with viable careers in agriculture,” says Executive Director Michael O’Gorman, interviewed in the film. They provide training, networking, mentoring and grants. With a membership of 2600 veterans across the U.S., the FVC supported Ellis in the making of the film. Gorman says we need hundreds of mature farmers to mentor young vets.
Other organizations welcome veterans into a wider community of people who are taking up the farming and gardening life. For example, Liz Millazo, Field Production Manager at CASFS, will explain how GI Bill funds can cover tuition for CASFS’s famous apprenticeship program. Apprentices come from diverse backgrounds around the world. There are 100,000 homeless veterans in the United States. Darrie Ganzhorn, Executive Director of The Homeless Garden Project, says vets often find fellowship with the garden’s homeless and at-risk volunteers and employees who may share conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, 30% of returning combat vets have PTSD. Ganzhorn says joining the panel is a good opportunity for outreach. “Talking about our work at this film is a great opportunity for us to let veterans know about our programs, and invite more participation.”
Lipson speaks to other opportunities for would-be farmer-vets on the Central Coast, especially those without access to land. “Our area has an incredibly diverse and vibrant ag sector. There are many successful companies to get involved with and a big infrastructure of organizations and networks to connect with. There is always room for new entrepreneurs as well, and especially in the overlap with the technology innovation of this area.”
Lipson also explains that there are tangible preferences for veterans in federal hiring and interesting opportunities in government service. “The USDA has a huge retirement turnover and needs mission-oriented people in many career paths. These roles encompass everything from research and extension to farm-support programs delivery, to school food and forestry, and more.” Low-interest financing is a big area of USDA service, and so are conservation programs for land management. There are also grants.
In closing, Lipson says that organic farming has a number of positive benefits that reinforce each other, and match up well with the goals and needs of many vets. These are economic, since organic crops tend to be more profitable, and there’s strong demand; agronomic, since organic systems are resilient in the face of drought; therapeutic – healthier for the farmer, the land, and the environment; and social, since they promote a strong community fabric.
Following the film, the panel discussion will include:
• Mark Lipson, recent USDA Organic & Sustainable Agriculture Policy Advisor
• Liz Milazzo, Field Production Manager, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture
• Darrie Ganzhorn, Executive Director, Homeless Garden Project
• Jason Sweatt, Co-founder, Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance
• Dulanie Ellis, Producer of Ground Operations film
The Santa Cruz Veterans Hall is located at 846 Front Street. For ticket information go to www.eventbrite.com/e/ground-operations-santa-cruz-veterans-alliance-tickets-13078459023
View trailer for the film below:
About the author
Jillian Steinberger-Foster is a regenerative landscape gardener and designer. She is co-owner of Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping with her husband, contractor Ken Foster. They have a thriving homestead on the Westside of Santa Cruz and three active rescue dogs.
