As Military Draws Down, Program Readies Veterans for Organic Business

When Cpl. Adrian Burrell leaves the Marine Corps this year, he plans to go back home to Oakland and open “Swagwich”—an organic mobile food truck.

“I’ve always wanted to have my own business,” he said. “This is something that’s within reach.”

Burrell graduated from the Archi’s Acres’ six-week Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training program  in April in an Escondido farm — where active duty service members and veterans learn organic farming and agriculture business.

“If I wanted to, I could go out and start my own hydroponic farm,” he said. But instead he plans to open a business that will use as many products from other VSAT graduates as well.

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As a final exam, participants of the VSAT program presented business plans at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to local buyer as well as business and military leaders, including marketing executive Robert Black, who was impressed by how thorough the presentations were.

“They all have to have a little Steve Jobs in them and know their company,” he said.

And the timing is right to succeed from selling organic food, he said.

“The whole culture is trending that way,” he said. “People want to take care of themselves.”

Burrell looks forward to working with other veterans and believes service members should have more opportunities to take part in transition programs.

“A lot of Marines are scared,” he said. “They want to start a new chapter in their lives and they don’t know how.”

The by 20,000 Marines in the next Decade. Camp Pendleton is expected to lose 2,300 Marines by 2016 and the region could lose 6,000, the North County Times reported.

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In addition, veteran unemployment locally is 11.5 percent—nearly two-and-a-half percentage points higher than the national average—10 News reports.

Local veterans groups are bracing themselves for the expected demand for services, including Veterans Association of North County, which launched a veterans transition program of its own last month.

By buying products from other program graduates, Burrell will be supporting veterans and he hopes others make similar investments.

“Military personnel make good citizens,” he said. “So why not help us.”

Read how to get involved in the program on the Archi's Acres VSAT home page. Also, Karen Archipley, of Archi's Acres, is a blogger on Patch. .