BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 20, 2020
In January, Maine AgrAbility launched Boots-2-Bushels, a new program to help Maine veterans transition to a career in agriculture after returning home. The program offered a variety of classes, from cultivation to marketing, as well as hands-on instruction from experienced farmers using a demonstration farm at the VA Togus Hospital in Augusta. Everything was on track for the program. Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Instead of canceling for the season, though, Anne Devin, farmer veteran outreach coordinator for Maine AgrAbility used some of military resilience, creativity and resourcefulness to make her program work for this brave new world.