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USDA encourages vets to steer toward ag careers

DSCN3213The USDA wants military veterans to consider careers in agriculture.  USDA veterans liaison Lanon Baccam was at a Transition Summit at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri “to make sure that these service members who are thinking about what they want to do when they get home…consider farming and ranching or careers in agriculture,” Baccam told Brownfield Ag News Tuesday during a stop on his way to Fort Leonard Wood.

The summit was hosted by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce program called Hiring Our Heroes.  The summit focuses on many career opportunities, but Baccam tells Brownfield that agriculture is a good fit for service members transitioning back to civilian life.

“With 17 percent of the U.S. population coming from rural America, but rural America representing 40 percent of the military, we know that a lot of young men and women are going to be heading back home,” said Baccam, “and we want to make sure they have something to do.”

Baccam is himself a veteran of eight years in the Army and in the Iowa National Guard.

AUDIO: Lanon Baccam (5 min. MP3)

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