Taking Action to Alleviate our Veterans’ Challenges

Taking Action to Alleviate our Veterans’ Challenges

Thank an American Veteran every chance you get— they make our freedom possible. They bravely stepped forward to serve our great nation, often putting themselves directly in the face of danger. As of 2023, the US Census accounted for 15.8 Million Veterans, with 27.9% of veterans over the age of 75 and only 8.3% younger than 35. There are many to thank, and at Farm2Veteran, we aim to show our gratitude to as many as we can, through action and alleviating challenges veterans face– namely, food insecurity. 

America’s veterans have made immense sacrifices to serve our country, yet many face significant challenges upon returning to civilian life. Among these challenges, food insecurity is a growing and concerning issue that affects a substantial number of veterans. 

Food insecurity—the lack of reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food—affects millions of Americans, including a disproportionate number of veterans. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), about 10% of working-age veterans live in food-insecure households. For post-9/11 veterans, this number is even higher, with estimates ranging from 12% to 15%. In fact, Veterans are nearly twice as likely to experience food insecurity as civilians. These are hard working, courageous individuals. It seems unfathomable. 

Several factors contribute to food insecurity among veterans:

1. Transition Challenges: Transitioning from military to civilian life can be difficult, especially when veterans struggle to find stable employment or face mental, emotional, or physical hardships.
2. Economic Hardships: Many veterans work in low-paying jobs or rely on fixed incomes, such as disability benefits, which may not cover all living expenses. 
3. Health Issues: Physical and mental health problems stemming from service-related injuries can limit a veteran’s ability to work and access nutritious food.

Organizations across the public and private sectors are working to address food insecurity among veterans– but nobody is doing it quite like Farm2Veteran. 

It takes a village, and we applaud and support every effort and organization to feed veterans. But our goal is beyond feeding veterans– we aim to nourish veterans with the highest quality food available. And we do it in whatever delivery method is most convenient for the veterans we serve. 

You are what you eat. The food we donate to veterans is farm-fresh, local, and better-than-organic. The sustainable farming practices used by Farm2Veteran and our partner farms, paired with the local sourcing, provides the highest nutritional value possible in the whole foods we provide to veterans. And we aim to find the way to serve them best by partnering both with food pantries that veterans can uniquely access, and by bringing it directly to veteran supportive housing developments. 

Food insecurity among veterans is a solvable problem, but it requires a collective effort from everybody. We hope you will join us as Farm2Veteran as we offer farm fresh food to our nation’s heroes!