Veterans will be models for local farming efforts

Spreading freedom, our military doesn’t rely on hoping, fundraisers, grants and slow change, one place at a time. We fund our peace-keeping activities worldwide using the majority of the federal budget – trillions.

If our military had to apply for grants every year, the liberation and democracy it brings would be uncertain, meager, stalled and symbolic at best. We furnish our armed forces with regular, guaranteed, permanent, escalating funding to get the job done right. Our military veterans know the dramatically transformative power of sustained public funding. It rapidly changes the landscape.

Municipal funding for local food production would transform Taos County. Recent letters call for 15 percent of the town and county budgets with the goal of being a self-fed community by 2025.

Not Forgotten Outreach has 26 acres of farmland. Due to lack of funds, only one-quarter of an acre is planted. But, in the coming years, we will depend on Not Forgotten Outreach to feed thousands of Taoseños.

We’ll count on our brave and tireless veterans for the food safety and security of Taos. On domestic soil, veterans will be our models of discipline and self-sacrifice. I have tremendous faith in the young leadership of Not Forgotten Outreach. Development director Alec Swift and program director Matt Cogorno, two recent additions, promise greatness.

Let us pray that 15 percent farm funding be approved quickly and that NFO receives the money it needs to fully farm its land next spring with full employment for local veterans, a living wage for our heroes.