CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Ensuring that veterans returning home to West Virginia can find work after their service ends is a key issue for Senator Kent Leonhardt (R-Monongalia, 02).
Lately, he’s been championing the Veterans-to-Agriculture program, which was made possible by S.B. 469.
Passed in 2014 with 13 co-sponsors including Senator Ron Miller (D-Greenbrier, 10) and then-Senator Larry Edgell (whom Leonhardt defeated in November 2014), S.B. 469 intends “to grant the Department of Agriculture the authority to create and maintain a program to encourage, support and develop West Virginia veterans into the field of agriculture.”
The bill creates a special fund to be used by the Department of Agriculture for programs that encourage veterans to enter agriculture. Leonhardt is a big supporter of the program, but fears that too few veterans are learning about programs like these when they leave the service.
“A lot of the veterans when they separate from the service, they don’t go to those veterans’ services right off the bat,” he said on the MetroNews-affiliated “The Mike Queen Show” on the AJR News Network. “They don’t feel a need. They can do things on their own.”
And Leonhardt said this isn’t the only thing veterans aren’t taking advantage of, for one reason or another.
“Most people don’t realize that there is a G.I. bill that supports college programs for veterans,” he said. “About 60 percent of veterans never fully use their G.I. bill.”
He hopes that there may be a way to fuse all three–college, agriculture, and veterans. It’s an exciting possibility, and led him to speak with Daniel J. Robison, the Director and Dean of WVU’s College of Agriculture. Leonhardt said Dean Robison was similarly enthused by the prospect.
“When we talk about school, there is certainly an awful lot of veterans that would want to go to college,” Leonhardt said. “They just haven’t figured out what they want to do.”
Senator Leonhardt has said in the past that he supports this program because he believes the nature of the work and the need for fresh, healthy produce in much of the state offers a chance for returning veterans to make a difference in their lives and their communities.
And modern-day farmers won’t need massive swaths of land, according to Leonhardt. Technology has changed the game across a multitude of industries, and agriculture is no different.
“If you want to take with the new technologies, the high tunnels, and specialty crops then maybe there’s a way we can combine a bit of more education,” he said.
Ultimately, the program’s expansion is a priority for Senator Leonhardt.
“It’s really a great program, but I want to make sure we keep it on track and expand it,” he said.