Are Extension Agriculture Programs Hitting Their Target With Military Veterans?

Authors

• Adam Ingrao, Michigan Food and Farming SystemsFollow
• Craig W Carpenter, Michigan State UniversityFollow
• Michael Lotspeich-Yadao, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignFollow
• Charles M. Tolbert, Baylor UniversityFollow

Volume

64

Issue

1

Abstract

The desire to support military veterans has led to a variety of targeted Extension programs, but the types and availability of these programs vary substantially. After reviewing the size and diversity of the U.S. veteran population, we examine one of the main USDA programs targeting veterans: the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program. We then use matrix analysis to categorize veteran support programs across other program areas. Finally, we compare these programs with veterans' needs, as described in recently conducted veteran focus groups, and conclude by highlighting gaps and opportunities for improving Extension programming for veterans, including substantially improving program publicization.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

Author Contribution Statement: Drs. Ingrao and Carpenter engaged in funding acquisition, study conceptualization, data collection and analysis, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Dr. Lotspeich-Yadao engaged in study conceptualization, data collection and analysis, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Dr. Tolbert engaged in funding acquisition, study conceptualization, writing—review and editing.

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Ingrao, A., Carpenter, C., Lotspeich-Yadao, M., & Tolbert, C. (2026). Are Extension Agriculture Programs Hitting Their Target With Military Veterans?. Journal of Extension, 64(1), Article 12. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.5545