Farmer Veteran Coalition Appoints New Leadership

By Tim Hammerich, with the Ag Information Network

After starting the Farmer Veteran Coalition in 2008 and growing it to over 20,000 members nationwide, Michael O’Gorman is transitioning the organization over to newly appointed Executive Director Jeanette Lombardo.

“It really just blended everything I am, and it was perfect timing for me. And I have this great vision of moving the organization and increasing our national expansion,” said Lombardo

Lombardo brings both a family background in the military and years of working in the ag industry to the Farmer Veteran Coalition.

“What the  Farm Veteran Coalition does is we mobilize veterans to feed America. So we take that trans who are leaving whatever branch of service they’re in, and we introduce them to careers in agriculture,” Lombardo said.  “And we help them with the training, apprenticeships and placement and all aspects of it. Additionally about 54% of our membership, which is about 24,000 people altogether, have one form of disability or another. So they range anywhere, from an issue with vision to complete amputation and everywhere in between,” she noted.

Lombardo said they are rolling out a new program in addition to their perennial efforts for remote jobs in agriculture. Learn more at FarmVetCo.org.