In the United States, an unexpected but powerful approach to veteran rehabilitation has taken shape — through agriculture. The idea is simple: working the land provides what is often missing after service — a daily structure, tangible results, community, and calm. Farming as a form of therapy has a long history, but until recently there was little scientific evidence of its effectiveness — which is why the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched the VA FARMS pilot program to measure the real impact.
The results proved telling. Over two years of the pilot, nearly 500 veterans went through VA FARMS, while over 1,300 people were reached through program activities such as demonstrations, training, and community discussions. Studies of participants showed real improvements in physical and mental health: better sleep, nutrition, and exercise, alongside reductions in anxiety, pain, depression, and the use of medication and substances. The approach combines two things at once — psychological recovery and vocational retraining: agritherapy integrates mental health care with agricultural training, giving the veteran both treatment and a new profession. In parallel, a whole network of community organizations has grown in the US — the Farmer Veteran Coalition, Armed to Farm, Growing Veterans — connecting veterans with farmers, land, and mentors.
For Ukraine, this case is especially relevant. In a country with a powerful agricultural sector and millions of hectares of land, agritherapy could become a natural bridge between service and civilian life. It doesn’t require building new clinics — it requires land, mentors, and structure. The veteran gains not only psychological recovery but also a profession, an income, and the sense of growing something again — both literally and figuratively.
