2015 BFLN Meeting – NYS Veterans in Agriculture Program

October 26th, 2015 – The Century House, Latham, NY

This meeting brought together over 50 agriculture and military service providers to network and learn from each other about how to best serve military veterans in New York State who are interested in careers in agriculture. The agenda included an overview of the pathways that people take to enter into farm careers, a panel discussion by veterans currently farming, presentations by military service providers on the career resources available to military veterans, and several break-out groups tasked with visioning regional programming priorities across the state. The day was capped off with a keynote address by New York State Commissioner of Ag + Markets, Richard A. Ball.

To view the presentations from some of our speakers, click on the following links:

Institute of Veteran and Military FamiliesNYS-DOL-Presentation-NE-BFLNM-Event
New York State Department of LaborNYS-DOL-Presentation-NE-BFLNM-Event (1)
New York State Division of Veteran AffairsNYS-DVA-Vets-and-Ag-Oct-2015
Ft. Drum Soldier for Life, Transition Assistance ProgramSoldier-4-Life-TAP-Program-Ft.-Drum-26-Oct-15

Dean Koyanagi

Dean came to the Small Farms Program in 2015 to work with fellow veterans interested in agriculture. He and his wife have been farming in Ithaca for the past 10 years, and he is excited to share the experience of learning to farm with others. Dean continues to support a statewide effort to work with extension, veteran’s organizations, and our veteran farming community to support veterans in achieving their agricultural goals.
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