Veteran Farmers: Resources and Beekeeping

Welcome to the Talking Total Farmer Health podcast from AgriSafe Network. At AgriSafe, we work to protect the people that feed the world by supporting the health and safety professionals, ensuring access to preventative services for farm families and the agriculture community.

Oh, hi, Linda. Thanks for having me here today. So a little bit about my background - I am a full time farmer, my wife and I run a 40 acre diversified farm in the upper peninsula of Michigan. And we are primarily focused on honeybees, lavender production, and asparagus production. And that kind of comes from my background of working in agriculture for the last 30 years. I was not born and raised on a farm, but I worked on farms growing up in Southern California, went to school and got a bachelor's degree in plant science. I have a PhD in entomology, all focused on agricultural production and pest management primarily. And so that's really what got me into this field. I think with beekeeping in particular, which is primarily where I work, and most of the work that I do in agriculture is surrounding beekeeping and beekeeping education. That really came to me while I was an undergraduate receiving my plant science degree at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and that first day in the bee yard, I will never forget it. And it was one of those experiences that completely changed my life. And since then, I've dedicated myself to bees and to the education of others around honeybee management and production.

That's wonderful. I love those moments in history that catapult us in a different direction, right? Unexpected. So we're going to dive a little bit into your work. So, first of all, I know that the Heroes to Hive has a direct connection with veteran farmers. So as we think about veteran farmers, what are some specific stressors for veteran farmers and maybe, those stressors that differ from our non-veteran farmers?

Yeah. So we work primarily with military service members and their families. So we deal with a lot of the ups and downs that go along with transition from military service. So I'll say that some of the stressors that affect farmer veterans that don't maybe… I don't want to say they don't affect other farmers. We all are under stress as agricultural producers in one way or another. So I don't want to minimize the stress of other producers, but I will say that within the veteran demographic, we deal with some kind of unique challenges. So one of those unique challenges is the transition from military service, going from having a career that is focused on the protection of our national security and really working within a system that you don't really have to think a lot about what you're doing. A lot of what you're doing is being told to you. You have a regimen, you have a, you know, a daily routine. You're training with your unit. Your unit is essentially your family. So the transition from military service into civilian life is a very difficult transition for a lot of people. The other thing that we deal with in the veteran community is trauma. And, you know, others have trauma as well. But a lot of the trauma that we deal with is related to combat and service overseas and seeing some of what essentially is hell on earth in many respects.

So dealing with the trauma associated with military, both those that have served in combat and those that deal with survivor's guilt is also a really huge area of what we deal with. The other piece of of kind of what we deal with is as veterans and coming out of the military is disabilities. So within our Heroes to Hives program, we've had over 10,000 students participate in our program, over 50% of those individuals have a VA disability rating, meaning they have a disability related to military service. And so most of the students and most of the veterans that are transitioning from military service that are going into agriculture as a career field are also dealing with a lot of service connected disabilities that can be something that's seen, like an amputation or being wheelchair bound, but it also can be those unseen disabilities, which about 20 to 30% of our veterans deal with, which are traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress. And those types of things manifest in many different ways that we don't typically see with a lot of other agricultural producers. So so those are some of the major hurdles that farmer veterans deal with as they're they're transitioning and as they're becoming the next generation of American farmer.

We're so grateful, right? A grateful nation to all of those that have served through many generations of people. And it's more than I think, than the normal public would consider, the sacrifices that go with it, sacrifice time away from family and then sacrifice to their physical, mental, and spiritual bodies. There's just a lot that they give for our freedoms. And of course, we're very grateful for that. And thank you for outlining some of those things maybe we hadn't thought about before that our veterans give. So as we think about our veteran farmers, what are some key resources out there, some things that may help them to- to transition into civilian life?

You know, we've had even even things where, you know, folks are buying land and want to get eyes on the land with us, and be able to see kind of, you know, is this actually an appropriate landscape for farming or things like that. And so we kind of help them step by step through that process with the Vets in Ag Network. We also offer navigation services for USDA. So we take veterans into USDA offices and advocate for them as they're filling out paperwork and things like that. One of the things that we have to consider when we're working with veterans, I am a veteran myself that has a traumatic brain injury as well. And when we think about veterans and we're thinking about how they're interacting with service providers, one of the biggest hurdles is those particular disabilities that make understanding and comprehension a little more difficult. So providing services like navigation services, when USDA is handing you a pile of paperwork to fill out is often times something that's very beneficial to former veterans as they're transitioning. And then, of course, the other kind of other programs would be programs like Heroes to Hives, a national training program focused on beekeeping, education and supporting the next generation of beekeepers.

I am amazed at the number of resources that are out there. And particularly what caught my ear was talking about the advocacy work. Because you're right, transitioning to civilian life isn't as easy as maybe some of us think it would be. And so having someone stand alongside and translate and and help them figure out the answer so that they can be the benefactors of some of these great resources. So, so kudos for that. What are some barriers that might prevent those veteran farmers from utilizing or stepping up to access those resources? And you talked about one of them, especially for those who may have traumatic brain injuries.

Yeah, that tends to be a big one that sometimes can be a nonstarter. So a lot of times with traumatic brain injury or even post-traumatic stress, just entering a busy building and trying to advocate for yourself is very difficult to do. So that is a that is a major barrier, one of the reasons why we we do navigation services. But other barriers that we see within the farmer veteran community, you know, pride tends to be a really big one. We have a lot of pride in what we have done and what we have been able to accomplish in our lives. Some things that, you know, most people would never even dream of doing. And so oftentimes we will run into issues with veterans who are very prideful. And maybe just aren't aren't willing to reach out to those resources because they don't want the support. They're trying to do it on their own. And one of the things that we find a lot of times when we leave the military is that we go from being, you know, individuals that work well in teams to kind of becoming isolated because we feel like a lot of the world doesn't understand what we've been through. And that comes down to another thing about accessing resources is just feeling like you're not being heard or you're not being understood from your standpoint. And the life of a of someone who serves in the military is very different than a civilian. We have a whole different set of laws that were subject to in the military, the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And so we literally are living different lives than the civilian world. And so that transition, like you mentioned, it's difficult. But, you know, I oftentimes tell people it's like falling off of a cliff.

It's like one day you have everything laid out in front of you. You know what you're doing day to day. You know who you have behind you, serving behind you, shoulder to shoulder to protect you. And and your interests and the interests of our nations. And then all of a sudden, you come home and it's like, well, you can do anything you want to do. And it's very overwhelming from from the perspective of coming from a very regimented and very, I'd say, kind of predictable environment in many situations. Now, when we get into combat, oftentimes that is very unpredictable, but most of the time our daily lives in the in the uniform are very predictable. And so that's something that really comes to to play when we're when we're feeling, you know, when we're when we're looking for resources and feeling like the world just doesn't understand what we've been through, that oftentimes is a nonstarter for veterans. And one of the reasons why we feel that, you know, veterans being supported by other veterans is so important when we're doing things like resource connection is because those are folks who understand what we've been through and those are folks that you can share those stories with and not feel like you're you're being looked at as, you know, someone that you know, maybe, you know, someone may look at you a little differently because of the things that you say when it comes to conversations with civilians, especially about hard things that have happened in combat. And so we really believe that accessing resources, that is one of the main ways to get over those barriers is supporting veterans with other veterans.

Absolutely. And thank you for taking us in a walk in a veterans shoes. It's so important to try to understand what they've been through because absolutely, in our rural areas, easy for people to form, maybe their own preconceived notions of why that veteran walks, talks, or behaves the way that he or she does. And so, so great to hear your your profile of what a veteran really is experienced and as well as their support network who, you know, they're going to reach out to the like minded folks, those people they know get them and understand them. So let's talk about wellness practices. And I'm betting that you have some that you'd like to recommend and we'll lead right into that into the Heroes to Hives program.

That stuff kind of goes away. So that's one of the ways that we reduce stressors with, within the agricultural space. The other place that we can do that is through a more intimate connection with our livestock or with our plants. Now we know, you know, folks talk about talking to their plants and things like that. These types of activities are inherently therapeutic and there's actually a lot of history behind, when we talk about bees and communicating with bees. There's actually a rich history that we get from the Celts on how we actually communicate with our bees. So in Celtic traditions, beekeepers would go to their beehives and talk to their bees about the traumas that they were related to their life, loved ones that had been lost, things like that. And so just the communication with your livestock oftentimes is very therapeutic. The other aspect of this is also creating spaces that are inherently lend themselves to kind of therapy in general. So one of the things that you can do and we do within our apiaries and you could do with any livestock operation or farm operation is actually create thresholds where you actually have a physical barrier that separates you from the activity. So when you cross that threshold, you're also crossing into something different. And the idea is, is that we leave the outside world behind and we enter into something that is more focused.

And so we give our attention to whatever it is that we're working with across that threshold. So this is another activity that you can do that actually creates a a richer understanding of the world that we're in on our day to day lives, which is humans, is very stressful no matter what you're doing, but kind of gives us the ability to leave that world behind and enter the world of agriculture with an open mind and the ability to not be, you know, just just dwelling or on the on the things that are going, you know, that are tough in our lives. It's it's a mind shift that we have to undergo. But oftentimes when we have physical barriers or things like that, they remind us that, okay, now is my time in the apiary. I'm not thinking about what happened with little Johnny at high school or anything like that. I'm focused on my bees. And so that's those are a couple of the practices that we use within the course, amongst many other practices that we use with farmers in general to create a connection not only with the land and what they're producing, but also themselves as well. So I always see agriculture, as you know, it's a financial wellness activity, but it's also a personal wellness activity. It can be made a very personal activity to to deal with your own problems.

You know, I was just thinking, as you're talking about that barrier and leaving those distractions behind, that even for those of us that are not come from any kind of active service, how important that would be when we think about safety within those livestock yards and you're dealing with cattle or or any critter and bees as well, you know, there's there's always those safety risks there. And so that taking away those distractions leave them on the outside of the fence so that not only are you taking care of yourself in a safety mind, but you're also allowing that transpersonal psychology to to filter in. I think those of us that work in agriculture, we just like to work outside, right? You like to work with your hands. You like to get them in the dirt. You like to experience all that nature has to offer just because we think we like it. But that is really cool that there's some science behind it. That's wonderful. Um, so let's talk about Heroes to Hives. You know, how does a program work and how can people contact you and, and if they want to learn more, you know, let's make that connection.

Absolutely. So anybody can find out information about us at our website. Heroestohives.org, which is a page on our Michigan Food and Farming Systems website, which is our parent organization that houses us. Basically, the way that Heroes Hives works is it is a hybrid education program. So it has online components, which is the majority of the program and on ground components. The way it works is November 1st through February 28th of every year we have enrollment. So people go to heroestohives.org or heroestohives.com fill out an application. The individuals that are eligible for our program, which is completely free, are service members. So whether you serve National Guard reservist, active duty, whether you're a veteran, any of those individuals are eligible to apply to our program and their dependents as well. So each participant can also include a spouse and and a couple children up to we can allow up to three dependents for each student to engage. And one of the reasons we do that is we realize very early on when you deal with veterans, there is oftentimes a lot of familial strain. So, you know, you're active duty, 18 months deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan. You come home for six months and then your active duty another year and a half.

And so a lot of veterans miss out on a lot of aspects of of their children and their them growing up, but also the the spousal strains that go along with being gone for extended periods of time. What we found in our course very early on is that spouses and children really wanted to learn about. Bee keeping. And we found that when we allow those those kids and spouses to participate together, there's a lot of healing that's happening within the familial unit around bees. So we allow those individuals to participate in late March. We start the course. And basically the way it works is when people register for the course, they give us an email address and we send them an educational module every month starting in March through November, and they basically watch the videos. They're all pre-recorded videos, handouts and instructional videos. We have over 100 hours of curriculum that's in the in the program and they basically watch it at their own pace. And at the end of the season, in October and November, we allow them to take a final exam, which is a comprehensive exam over the curriculum that we've covered. And the individuals that pass that exam can go on to receive a certificate of completion from us, which is recognized by USDA for a year of experience.

And they can also transfer those credits to the Great Plains Master Beekeeping course, which is one of many master beekeeping courses throughout the United States. This one's housed at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and they can transfer all of those course credits right over to Uni's course and fulfill the entire apprenticeship level of that master beekeeping course. Now, Master beekeeping courses are kind of like bachelor's degrees in our career field. Most people don't go to school to become a beekeeper, and there's very few entomology programs in the United States that focus on apiculture. So most people do these master beekeeping programs, which are 4 to 5 year programs. Our program allows them to basically jump into the second year of the program. The other thing that we offer is on-ground training. So we have on ground partnerships with Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, Mission Bee-lieve out of Maryland, the Pennsylvania Veterans Farm out of Pennsylvania, among other organizations where we actually offer on ground training in those states to accompany our online education. And that varies between each partner, but they essentially offer free on-ground training to those veterans in the states that they live in so that they can not only get the hands on experience, but also get the connection to other veterans that are interested in the same area as them, beekeeping.

So trying to create not only a firm educational program and also a workforce development pipeline like all of of of agriculture, we are an H-2a industry and we rely a lot on H-2a labor. And one of the things that we're working very hard to do is to train up these individuals that already have the leadership skills and a lot of the managerial skills that everybody wants in an employee. You know, all that's been paid for by the US military. But these individuals, once they're given the tools and the expertise, you know, we're looking at them to be the next generation of American beekeeper and start working both at the commercial level and at the hobbyist and sideliner level to support our agricultural industry and to continue to see, you know, bees on the on the rebound. We have, we've had a lot of really tough years the last 20 years in in in the beekeeping industry. And we find that the education that these students receive really allows them to set themselves apart and be very successful beekeepers. So that's kind of how the program works. And a little bit about the impact that we have.

It's a tremendous impact. And I'm just thinking of the beekeepers and I'm a fellow Nebraskan, but the beekeepers around here, they're of all sizes and shapes. There's the small, maybe the high school student interested in it and just as a side gig to bring in a little extra cash for college along with those bigger producers who are really making a full time business. So give us an idea of some of those yummy products that come from those beehives.

Absolutely. So we in my farm, we run about 100 beehives. And so we're one of the larger bee farms in the upper Peninsula of Michigan. And a lot of the stuff that we produce, it's it's like any form of agriculture, it really comes down to you have your primary products and your value added products. So our primary products would be things like pollen, honey, wax. So pollen can be trapped and utilized for seasonal allergy treatment. And so some beekeepers will trap pollen and sell pollen as well to help with seasonal allergies. Honey, obviously, is the major output from our bees and you know, that is a very good product to have. You know, when we think about agricultural products and I've worked in all areas well, many areas of specialty crop production over my career. And I'll tell you, it's very hard to find an agricultural product that doesn't have a shelf life. And bees produce honey, which literally does not expire. So, you know, having a product that’s shelf stable forever is very attractive for a farmer. And so that's one of our major product. The wax also, which is a byproduct, the bees actually produce the wax themselves. And when we harvest honey, we end up with wax products that we or wax, wax that we can use for wax products. So something as simple as candles, I'd say some of the more popular like value added items that we see nowadays are things like the beeswax, food wraps that are replacement for cellophane. So, you know, you can wrap your cheese or a sandwich in it or something like that. So that's one of the more popular items that we see. And then we also see, you know, for beekeepers that are really interested in getting kind of to the kind of the more medicinal areas of of honeybee production.

We're starting to actually see an emergence of individuals that are interested in even venom collection here in the United States. That's something that's done a lot in Europe and is actually used in a lot of medicine in Europe, not so much here in the United States. Bee venom is not really viewed as a medicinal product, but it absolutely is. And so even something as is kind of out there as collecting venom from bees is something that's gaining a lot of popularity. But the amount of value added products that come along with bee products propolis would be another one that is oftentimes used for tinctures for things like toothaches and things like that. There's a lot of both kind of culinary aspects of honeybee products, but a lot of medicinal products as well. And I think that's some of the things that we as Americans oftentimes overlook when it comes to honey is the actual role that it has played historically as a medicinal product, not as a substitute for sugar or something, just as a sweetener. The healing properties of honey are significant. And we even see companies… There's a company in Canada right now that's actually creating bandages that have honey impregnated in the bandages because of the antimicrobial and antibacterial properties of honey. And we actually have a veterinarian that we know who and many veterinarians around the US are starting to pick up on this, but they use honey even in hospitals, I've even heard, use honey, Manuka honey specifically, for antibiotic resistant bacteria. So you get infections that can't clear up with antibiotics - honey is what a lot of doctors and veterinarians end up using in those situations. So, some really fantastic properties and fantastic products that we get from bees.

I would totally agree. Who knew it went beyond just the food product and, and/or candles? Right. There's so many other things and I think so much more coming on the horizon. Definitely at AgriSafe, we like to talk about holistic health and encompassing all types of of measures that people take to to heal themselves. And so, this is awesome. Gosh, that was just totally enlightening. So as we wrap up, is there anything else you would like to mention or maybe something that you want folks to remember? Some key messages.

Yeah, I'd say kind of the key messages, and this is kind of when I talk to agricultural producers around the country, I really try to focus on this is this idea that the work that we do, one is incredibly important to the to the world that we live in. I feel like that a lot of us as farmers, I'd say as military personnel, we understand the role that we have played in the United States as protectors of our national food security or our national security. But I feel like that agricultural producers don't really realize the importance that they play. We as farmers oftentimes get down into the drudgery of day to day labor and hard work. And, you know, we love that kind of thing. But the thing I think that all of us need to realize that our agricultural producers is that we are protectors of our national food security. And that mission is just as important as any military personnel. And I think that if we kind of own that that mission of of, you know, not just thinking about, you know, the day to day drudgery of farming and how hard it can be sometimes and stressful it is all the time. But we get back to that idea that, you know, we're not just doing this for ourselves. We're we're protecting our national food security. We are, you know, essentially the keepers of of democracy because without a stable food supply, democracy goes out the window. So I think that the role that we play as agricultural producers, you know, and as military personnel is just incredibly important. And so just realizing that that that's the path that we're walking together as farmers and as veterans even, that's an important path to recognize.

So very well said. Thank you. Thank you for that. Well, it was a pleasure, Dr. Adam, and I hope that we- our paths get to cross soon. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay folks, that’s it for today. Thank you again for tuning in to another episode. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast to hear more from AgriSafe on the health and safety issues impacting agricultural workers. If you’d like to suggest topics, or have a story you’d like to share, contact us by email at INFO AT AGRISAFE DOT ORG, and title your email “T T F H Podcast.” You can also get our attention by using the hashtag "T T F H pod" on Twitter! To see more from AgriSafe, including webinars and our newsletter, visit w w w dot agrisafe dot org.

This episode was created by AgriSafe Network, directed by Laura Siegel, hosted Linda Emanuel, edited by Matt McKenney for ProPodcastingServices.com, with special guest Dr. Adam Ingrao!