Farming Project Encourages Veterans

Last year, former Army Sergeant Adam Burke, founder and director of Veterans Farm, and his wife Michele began raising and marketing “Red, White and Blueberries” in central Florida with support from the Farmer Veteran Coalition (www.farmvetco.org), which specializes in helping veterans find livelihoods in the food and farming sector.

This year money raised by Work Vessels for Veterans (WVFV) (www.workvesselsforveterans.org) has enabled Adam to secure 8 acres of land outside of Jacksonville where he plans to expand Veterans Farm to include other berries and organic vegetables while providing more job opportunities for disabled veterans. WVFV serves as Veterans Farm’s non-profit fiscal sponsor.

“Horticulture therapy by way of the blueberry farm helped my recovery so much that I thought it would only be greedy not to share it with others who have suffered so much,” Adam said. “It was nice to have other disabled veterans out there. We stick together and work as a team.”

Adam grew up on a family farm in Central Florida. The first member of his family to not go directly into farming, he joined the U.S. Army instead, serving from 1995-2004. He served in Iraq with Operation Iraqi Freedom from December 2002 until March of 2004, when mortar fire near Balad gave him his second and most serious injury, earning him the Purple Heart.

Adam says that his next step in developing Veterans Farm on its new land is to raise money to purchase the blueberry bushes and pine bark so that he can accept his first group of disabled veterans to train and operate the farm. He is also seeking donations of equipment to help complete the project. He plans to make his farm fully self-sustaining.

Adam Burke can be contacted via his website (www.veteransfarm.com) or call 352-217-1662.

Source: press release from the Farmer-Veteran Coalition Media Project