农业与自然资源学院bob体育下载iosbob体育合法吗校友和朋友

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根据英劳的说法，把农民和退伍军人联系起来并不难。“这真的只是一场必须进行的对话。与另一名退伍军人的对话，通常退伍军人的反应都很好。”

在现场:连接退伍军人和农业与亚当英格劳-文本bob体育合法吗

Kraig:记得不能用欢迎收听密歇根州立大学农业与自然资源学院的“实地考察”播客。BOB体育bob体育下载iosbob体育合法吗我是你们的主持人，克雷格·埃姆。在这一期的《实地考察》节目中，我请来了密歇根州立大学昆虫学系的博士生、密歇根州农民退伍军人联盟的执行董事亚当·英格劳。BOB体育亚当，谢谢你加入我的节目。

亚当Ingrao:谢谢你邀请我，克雷格。这真是我的荣幸。

:记得不能用现在，在我们了解你现在在做什么之前，带我们回到在加州长大的故事，因为你的故事是从那里开始的。

Ingrao:完全正确。我在南加州出生长大，就在河滨区附近。这是加州南部一个农业非常丰富的地区，但我不是在一个农业家庭长大的。bob体育合法吗事实上，我上高中时的第一份工作是在樱桃园做采摘工和包装工。从早期开始，这就灌输了我对农业的坚定热爱。bob体育合法吗高中时我继续在AG工作，后来不久离开南加州加入了美国军队。

:记得不能用2002年，你加入了美国陆军，对吗?

亚当·英格劳:是的。实际上，我入伍是为了直接应对9/11袭击，这是我家族的传统，我是第四代军人。我的曾祖父参加过第一次世界大战，我的祖父参加过第二次世界大战。我父亲在越南战争时期服役，从很小的时候起，我就被灌输为国家服务是非常重要的。当你的国家需要你时，你有责任挺身而出。我就是这么做的。我觉得我是有必要参军的在9/11之后，这种想法被巩固了。所以，2002年我参了军。

:记得不能用你是爱国者导弹火控员?

Ingrao:正确的,是的。我基本上要玩一个大导弹。我是爱国者导弹系统的雷达技术员。这是一份技术性很强的工作，压力很大。基本上，如果雷达坏了，我们就一直工作到雷达恢复正常。所以，时间对我们来说真的不是一个因素，但那是我生命中非常丰富的一段时间。我真的很喜欢军队。当我入伍的时候，这实际上是我事业上的一次转变。我曾计划在军队里待到退休，但不幸的是，我没有如愿。我在2003年受了伤那次伤的严重程度让我成为了一名残疾老兵这直接导致了我所在部门的退伍。 So I was medically discharged from the military.

:记得不能用你离开军队后去了哪里?

Ingrao:嗯，我回家了。当我离开军队的时候，我在剧组里，我在剧组里呆了大约一年，然后我回到了我父母身边，我想那是我生命中很多退伍军人都要面对的一段时间。当我们在军队的时候，你真的相信你可以完成任何事情。这种职业道德，在军队里的驱动力真的被灌输得非常深。当你成为一个在军队中受伤的人，你的整个生活都被颠覆了。当我在军队时，我是一个非常强壮的人，当我离开军队时，我就不是了。当我退伍后，我的全部计划就是马上回去。基本上我和我的指挥官进行了对话。我清楚地记得，有一天从医院回家后，他对我说:“你知道吗?回家，好起来，然后再回来，重新入伍。” And that was my, I had every intention of doing that, but as the years ticked on I realized that the disability that I had was permanent and it's really difficult to come to terms with that when you're an able bodied individual. Just coming to terms with the fact that I am a disabled vet. So, the years ticked on and now here we are 12 years later and the injury continues to give me problems and it really is an inhibiting factor. So I was never actually able to go back into the military, which is something that I carry with me to this day. Leaving my unit was one of the most heart wrenching things that ever happened to me. These were my brothers and sisters that I shoot in arms with. I mean, we had each other's backs, it's a comradery that's oftentimes not experienced in civilian life. And, it was very difficult to leave those individuals and that's something that even to this day, I deal with the guilt I would say associated with having to leave my unit well my brothers and sisters were going to combat. But that's one of the reasons that I do the things that I do today for veterans.

:记得不能用现在你用9/11后的退伍军人津贴去上学。你去哪儿了?你学什么?这是怎么发生的?

Ingrao:在我生命中的某个时刻，我意识到我拥有911，这些好处基本上可以让我在任何地方上学。我利用了这一点。我去了加州中央海岸的圣路易斯奥比斯波的加州理工大学。可能是世界上最富饶的农业地区之一。我在那里的园艺和作物科学系学bob体育合法吗习农业和环境植物科学。有一个专注和植物保护科学，我立刻被吸引住了。我很早就意识到我很喜欢和昆虫打交道。所以，我最终选择了这门课，并于2013年以最优等的成绩从圣路易斯奥比斯波的加州理工大学毕业，之后来到了密歇根州立大学。

:记得不能用你是怎么进密歇根州立大学的?

Ingrao:你知道，这是一个有趣的故事。我在一次会议上遇到了一位来自密歇根州立大学园艺系的教员，那次谈话基本上促成了我被密歇根州立大学录用。密歇根州立大学园艺系最初招募我来这里，但实际上我是通过植物科学招聘奖学金来的。因此，这个奖学金让我在密歇根州立大学的第一年可以在不同的部门之间轮换。它支付了我的学费，这真的是一件很好的事情。这给了我很大的灵活性去确定我真正真正热爱的是什么。我意识到园艺并不是我所热衷的领域，但我知道昆虫学是我所热衷的领域。所以，我最终在昆虫学系找到了自己的家。

:记得不能用加州和阳光明媚的密歇根之间的气候有点不同。

Ingrao:一点。我想说的是，这里的第一个冬天是我们度过的100年来最寒冷的冬天，我一生中从未见过这么大的雪，我和我的妻子，嗯，我可以说在这一点上足够幸运，但我们经历了兰辛的停电，我们有9天没有电。所以，对于一个出生和长大的加利福尼亚男孩来说，在那之前，他从来没有去过北方的气候，这是一次很好的学习经历。但我已经爱上了密歇根。

:记得不能用你和谁一起工作密歇根州立大学你的研究重点是什么?bob体育登录

Ingrao:所以我和Zsofia Szendrei博士在蔬菜昆虫学实验室工作。我们在实bob体育登录验室的研究主要集中在害虫管理和与蔬菜生产相关的害虫问题上。我的研bob体育登录究主要集中在芦笋的生产上，我的研究实际上是试图开发一种生物控制程序，利用有益昆虫的天敌。基本上是发生在农田里的食肉动物，我们试图确定我们是否可以利用这些天敌来控制小芦笋和常见的芦笋甲虫。

:记得不能用现在昆虫系不再要求了，但它在过去要求每个博士项目都有一个浓缩部分。这是他们专业领域之外的九个单元的工作。你选择了什么，为什么?

Ingrao:所以，我真的觉得这种丰富的成分是，这是博士生所需要的一个很好的方面。我真的有机会，我觉得这是一个真正跳出框框思考的机会，让自己接触到一些如果没有部门的支持我可能不会马上去做的事情。因此，我选择做的是，我向我的委员会提议，我将发展一个全州的退伍军人拓展计划，帮助退伍军人与农业事业建立联系。bob体育合法吗这就是它真正开始的地方。我的委员会很支持，这对我来说很好，因为这让我可以在我还是学生的时候出去做这项工作。而且，在州内发展这个项目真的是由我决定的，我感到非常有激情，就像我说过的，你知道，军人和退伍军人之间的同志情谊，这是一种深入人心，永远不会消失的东西。因为我很早就离开了我的部队，我总觉得我想回来回馈退伍军人。我想继续和我的兄弟姐妹们一起工作。我认为这是一个很好的机会。所以，我要做的第一件事就是找到一个可以帮我做这件事的人。 It was a big project, but I felt like I could do it. And so I reached out to Michigan Food and Farming Systems who is a nonprofit that's situated here on campus and met with their executive director. I just walked into her office one day, and we sat down, talked for a couple of hours, and next thing I knew I was basically running their veteran outreach program through that nonprofit and that continued for the next two years.I continued working in that capacity with them, over those two years I made direct contact with about 300 veterans here in Michigan. And basically had conversations with them about careers in agriculture, how I saw agriculture is a, not only as a, as an avenue for individuals to have a viable career option, but also it's an industry that allows you to address a lot of the disabilities that are associated with veterans. And farmers are hard workers. You've got to get up early in the morning, you got a lot of responsibilities. All of those things rely on you. It's you or nothing that basically is running that farm and that really responds well with a lot of military members. We're very driven, we have a lot of self determination. We have a lot of hard work and military individuals really have the best, in my opinion, the best management and leadership training that the world has to offer. I mean, these are very highly trained individuals. And so, that transitioned from a veteran or an active duty military personnel to a farmer really is not that far of a stretch, and it really is just the conversation that has to take place. And that conversation happened with another veteran. Usually the veterans respond really well, and it starts to sink in that well maybe this is something that I can think about doing as a career. And I will say this, that post 9/11 veterans, about 20% of us have post traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. Those individuals in particular respond very well to a working on a farm. And the reason being is that you have the safety and security support of a family there when you do need them, but it also, it's a slower paced environment. It's not the rat race, the nine to five. It's not sitting in a cubicle. It's definitely a more conducive work environment for individuals dealing with those types of things. And so, farming not only has this ability to support your family, it also has the ability to support your health and that's something that I really tried to communicate with a lot of veterans early on and still do to this day. The response to the outreach was tremendous, I'll say in the state of Michigan and the support that we've gotten, the support that I've gotten to help continue to do this mission has been outstanding from everyone from the USDA to the Farm Bureau. All the way to [inaudible 00:12:23], all the way down to local conservation districts. It's really been a tremendous response, and I feel we're really making a difference in the lives of veterans through this work.

:记得不能用现在，浓缩部分让你成为了密歇根州农民老兵联盟的执行董事。这个组织到底是什么，你和他们做什么?

Ingrao:因此，密歇根州农民退伍军人联盟是2015年试点的四个州分会之一，是一个全国性组织农民退伍军人联盟。农民老兵联盟是一个全国性的非营利组织。我们成立于2008年，由Michael O'Gorman在加州创立。农民退伍军人联盟的真正目标是动员退伍军人来养活美国。我们通过各种各样的活动来做到这一点，无论是规划还是资金。我们通过资源和教育来实现。所以我们可以提供很多途径。我想说的是，在农民退伍军人联盟中，我们最受欢迎的项目是我们的“英雄教室”标签，这是一种认证，允许生产者贴一个标签，上面写着“英雄自制”。非常吸引人的标签，你可以贴在你的产品上，帮助消费者确定什么是市场上的老产品。所以，在农业领域，竞争和试图让你的产品脱颖而出是一件非常困难的事情。 And so this label allows consumers to actually make a choice. Am I going to purchase something that a veteran produced or am I going to purchase something else and we feel that, that's a good avenue for our producers, our veterans to help them stand out in the marketplace. Probably our most popular program at the national level is the Farmer Veteran Coalition fellowship program. This fellowship is a yearly fellowship that veterans can apply for. And basically what it is, it's an opportunity for them to propose and apply for a $1 to $5,000 grant through our organization, to help them expand their farm business. Last year we gave away over $350,000 to 85 veterans. Many of those here in Michigan as well. This year we are hoping to give at least that much away again. And the program has been around since 2011, this year we will top over a million dollars that we've given directly to veterans to help support their agricultural endeavors. It's a piggyback program. Off of that is our geared to give program. Once you become a Farmer Veteran Coalition fellow, you then are eligible to receive a Kubota L series tractor. So we have a partnership with Kubota Tractor and every quarter we give away one of these tractors to a FVC fellow. Actually it was this week we gave away our fourth tractor to a navy veteran out of California. So these are some ways that we help veterans basically become more sustainable and profitable on the farm through supporting them, through helping them get out into the marketplace. And then one of the other huge things that we do and one of the big, big components that we're working on here in the state is education outreach. So, one of the things that's difficult to do at a national level because we have so many different agricultural climates around the United States, you know, a program that we developed for education in California is not always going to translate to something useful here in Michigan, because we have two totally different climates and I am one that can definitely attest to that. And so, what we are really doing here at the state chapter level is that we are trying to develop education programs to help veterans become more sustainable and educated about topics around agriculture. This year we're going to be having a soil health workshop in April and then we'll also be doing an integrated pest management workshop and that will be taking place at the Clarksville research station in May. So those are some examples of what we do here at the state level. I will say that I think one of the most important things that we do at the state level is building community. Veterans work very well with other veterans. And the comradery again that we have together is tremendous. And so, having a veteran to veteran pure network where we can rely on one another. My phone is always open to the vets I work with and I get phone calls about everything from helping me apply to come to MSU to what's going on with my plants, what does this insect that I found on here? And so, we really as a support unit, as a group of veterans, I feel like with the, about 200 members that we have here in Michigan, I pretty much have somebody I can call on for just about any topic. I may not know about row crops very much and their production, but I definitely know individuals that I can call upon other veterans that are willing to stand up and willing to help other veterans. So it's about developing community as well.

:记得不能用你作为一名学生，把你在实验室里学习和研究的东西教给战场上的老兵?

Ingrao:绝对的。我是科学传播的坚定信徒。如果科学做它所做的，我们有基础科学家做一些真正的基础研究，但我认为自己是一个应用科学家。bob体育登录而且，如果我的作品不能转化为公众，那我就觉得自己没有在做我的工作。所以我认为我在密歇根州立大学学到的一切都有必要被公诸于众。我的公众和我合作最多的群体是退伍军人，我为退伍军人提供的其中一件事是，我总是提供我的服务，就像交叉识别，侦察，任何这些类型的事情，我都免费提供给他们。我为退伍军人走访农场，看看他们可能遇到的问题。甚至只是和他们一起头脑风暴。他们中的很多人都对进入农业领域充满热情，但他们中的一些人没有必要的教育背景来解决农业中可能出现的一些非常非常复杂的问题。bob体育合法吗所以，再次强调，有了这个支持系统，我认为我自己是这个支持系统的一员，我认为我们可以在老兵社区一起解决很多这些问题。

:记得不能用所以说，农业有一个学习曲线，但你是获取信息的渠道，你正在学习的知bob体育合法吗识进入这个领域，这样它就可以适用于人们?

Ingrao:绝对的。我真的觉得自己很幸运能来到密歇根州立大学。我所获得的学习机会并不是每个人都能得到的。所以我觉得我有责任把这些与我分享的信息分享给那些不能来这里的人。我认为这是我们所有人都需要练习的。它基本上是在支持我们在这个行业工作的同行们。无论你从事什么行业，如果你是密歇根州立大学的学生，你就有机会真正改变一些事情。我认为这是我们在密歇根州立大学经常谈论的一件事，那就是斯巴达人真正产生影响的能力。我觉得这是我的机会。与退伍军人一起工作绝对是我在我的社区有所作为的机会。

:记得不能用你希望联合政府实现什么目标?

Ingrao:哦哇。好吧，我真的希望在密歇根州看到农民退伍军人的激增。好吧，玩笑归玩笑，我真正感兴趣的事情之一是农业。bob体育合法吗在美国，农民人口正在老龄化。我认为现在美国农民的平均年龄大约是59岁。如果我们真的要维护这个国家的粮食安全，我们就必须用受过教育的新人来取代这些农民，来填补即将出现的空缺。我认为退伍军人绝对是填补这一空缺的最佳人选。我们有必要的技能来提高农业的效率。bob体育合法吗我们有愿望和职业道德，这与农业职业道德是一致的，这也是我所期望看到的。我对这个组织的真正希望是继续看到农民退伍军人人数的增长。 And for us to really drive down that average age of farmers, so that we see a young group of farmers that are able bodied, that are helping us secure our food security for the future and I think Michigan has a great opportunity to do that. One thing about Michigan, coming from California, the Ag climate is very different and I feel like the Ag climate here in Michigan is much more of a community environment. I do feel that we have the opportunity, really a unique opportunity here in Michigan to not only help our agricultural industry but to help our veterans. We have about 660,000 veterans here in Michigan. And one of the unique things about that veteran community here in Michigan is that most of them are national guard members. So we are a guard state here in Michigan. We do not have any active duty military basis and so, one of the trends that happens when you leave the military, is you typically go back home. When I was at Fort Bliss, I went back in Texas, I went back home to California. I didn't stay in Texas and about 40% of the individuals who leave a duty station end up staying in that area. So you have 60% that are automatically leaving and going somewhere else. That doesn't happen here in Michigan because all of our guard members already live in work here in Michigan. So most of them stay, and really that gives us the avenue to help these individuals early on transition to careers in agriculture. So, one of the things that we're doing currently is we're trying to work with the transition assistance program and it's called TAPS. In the military we refer to affectionately as death by power point. It's a program that helps veterans to identify some transitional things that they'll be going through once they leave the military. And we are working to become part of that program so that these vets that are transitioning from their duty stations here in Michigan are aware of the opportunities in agriculture that are here to them. And, we have tremendous support from the agricultural community here. I can honestly say that every time I get around, whether it be at a farm bureau meeting or any Ag expo, the feeling that I get from the public and the reaction that they get when they see the work that we're doing, trying to help veterans move into these careers, the supports tremendous in. And the community seems to want this. We want this and I know that the veterans want this. They're definitely looking for these avenues to help them become successful and sustainable on the farm and in life.

:记得不能用农民和退伍军人都有良好的职业道德，所以很容易看出他们之间是如何相处的。

Ingrao:绝对的。我的意思是，你知道，农民们在黎明醒来，他们可能正在耕地。士兵们在黎明时分醒来，我们通常在某个地方跑步，做体能训练或类似的事情，但我们在军队中学到的技能非常适合在军队中学习。所以，即使你面对的是一名士兵，一名水手，或一名飞行员，他们以前没有在美国工作过，他们明白这是必要的职业道德。他们生活在那种职业道德中，所以这真的成为了教育的一部分，在我看来，这可能是最简单的，就是学习你需要做什么，这就是我们的切入点。我们帮助他们进行教育，帮助他们建立与教育的联系，帮助他们确定哪些资源是可用的。你知道吗，我昨天和一个老兵通过邮件聊天，实际上是我们三个人。刚才和我谈话的两位兽医，其中一位刚刚在密歇根州立大学开始了农业技术项目，另一位刚刚递交了园艺系的申请。所以，我也要和老兵们交谈，让他们知道这些机会就在那里等着他们。他们中的大多数人甚至不知道我可以来到密歇根州立大学，从众多不同的农业技术项目中进行选择，并获得一些非常好的教育。 So that when I do start that farm by myself, that learning curve isn't so steep because what we know with beginning farmers and ranchers is that, that first three to five years is critical to their success. And if you don't have the educational background to really make a go of it, those first three to five years, oftentimes a farm can fail and so some individuals don't have the opportunity to come back to MSU. Some of us do, but those that don't definitely should not be left behind.

:记得不能用你还有什么要补充的吗?

Ingrao:绝对Kraig。如果有任何退伍军人有兴趣加入农民退伍军人联盟，甚至有兴趣帮助该组织的个人，他们可以通过我们的Facebook页面密歇根农民退伍军人联盟联系我们。我们还有一个全国性的网站，www.farm.co.org，都是一个字。另外，密歇根的个人也可以直接联系我。我的电话号码是951-237-5311我在密歇根州立大学的邮箱地址是I-N-G-R-A-O-A-D@MSU.edu．

:记得不能用是什么让你每天在工作中面带微笑?

Ingrao:真的是能够和我的退伍军人同事一起工作。它给我一种无法解释的感觉。在密歇根和全国各地与我们一起工作的退伍军人，他们充满激情，他们爱国，他们真的想确保美国的成功，无论是通过军事行动还是通过确保我们的食物安全。这真的，真的，这真的让我脸上露出笑容。当我看到一个兽医曾经来找我，你知道，甚至是一些我们能想到的最残酷的事情。我们在老兵社区谈论的一件事是我们的自杀统计数据。据说我们每天有22个人自杀，这让我印象深刻。如果我能改变其中一个人做出最终牺牲的决定，那么这一切都是值得的。这真的让我脸上露出笑容，因为我知道我正在做我能做的事情来改变这种状况，确保我的兄弟姐妹得到很好的照顾，并拥有他们为之英勇奋斗的每一个机会。

:记得不能用我要感谢Adam Ingrao，他是密歇根州立大学昆虫学系的博士生，也是密歇根州农民退伍军人联盟的执行董事。BOB体育我还要感谢你们为我们国家所做的服务和牺牲。

Ingrao:谢谢你，克雷格。

:记得不能用下次一定要听In The Field的另一期节目。