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Photo credit: Pamela Springsteen
Willie Nelson
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Photo credit: Marina Chavez
Bonnie Raitt
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Photo credit: Danny Clinch
Dave Matthews Band
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John Mellencamp
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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
“I hope that some of the money that’s raised for the people in Africa, maybe they can take a little bit of it—one or two million maybe—and use it to pay the mortgages on some of the farms that the farmers here owe to the banks”—Bob Dylan at Live Aid, 1985
In 1985, famine in Ethiopia grew to such devastating proportions that rock stars organized and played benefit concerts in London and Philadelphia that were transmitted by satellite to televisions around the globe. Dylan’s seemingly offhand comment above sparked an annual event whose need remains ongoing. Now in its 34th year, Farm Aid will take place at Alpine Valley Music Theatre on Sept. 21.
Dylan’s torch was picked up by musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp who organized the first Farm Aid, held in Champaign, Ill. in 1985. (In 2001, Dave Matthews joined them on the board of directors.)
Since then, Farm Aid has traveled to different venues each year. (In 2010, Farm Aid was held at Miller Park in Milwaukee.) But the message remains the same: “to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land.”
The Issue
According to Farm Aid’s website, a handful of corporations control our food from farm to fork. Their unbridled power grants them increasing political influence over the rules that govern our food system and allows them to manipulate the marketplace—pushing down the prices paid to family farmers and driving them out of business. Corporate-written policies spark growing food safety concerns and less transparency in the marketplace.
This corporate-controlled food system damages rural communities, local economies and public health as well as the soil and water needed to sustain food production.
The first Farm Aid was put together in six weeks and raised $7 million. Since then, the nonprofit organization has raised $57 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture, whose mission is to keep family farmers on the land.
Farm Aid works with local, regional and national organizations to promote fair farm policies and grassroots organizing campaigns designed to defend and bolster family farm-centered agriculture. They have worked with farmers to protest factory farms and inform farmers and eaters about issues like genetically modified food and growth hormones.
By elevating the voices of family farmers, the organization supports the farmer to become advocates for farm policy change. In 1990, after years of Farm Aid advocating for organic farmers, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act, establishing a certification program for organic farms.
The Event
The annual music concert serves to educate and organize the public while offering a day of music in many genres.
This year’s performers include: Willie Nelson & Family, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Bonnie Raitt, Luke Combs, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real, Margo Price, Jamey Johnson, Tanya Tucker, Brothers Osborne, Yola, Particle Kid, Ian Mellencamp, Wisdom Indian Dancers and Ho-Chunk Thundercloud Singers.
“We have to keep letting farmers know that we believe in them, whether we live in the city or not. You can do something to change the world, just by changing the food you eat. Start from the bottom up”—Neil Young from the Farm Aid website
Young, Nelson, Mellencamp and Matthews are artists with long careers and large followings of fans, not to mention contacts within the music industry. What they also share is that they project images that make them right at home with Farm Aid. Not afraid to get behind movements, they all have made music that relates to rural landscapes.
Young went so far as to record an album titled The Monsanto Years. With the band Promise of the Real (led by Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah), the album took aim at Chevron, Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Monsanto’s production of genetically modified seeds. In 1985, Young took out a full-page ad in USA Today, an open letter asking President Ronald Reagan, “Will the family farm in America die as a result of your administration?”
In 1987, Nelson and Mellencamp testified before the U.S. Senate about the family farm crisis and corporate monopolies expanding in agriculture. In 1989, Farm Aid was Nelson’s baby, using 16 of his tour dates as the annual event. In response to the Great Flood of 1993 in the Midwest, Farm Aid created the Family Farm Disaster Fund to support organizations that worked directly with farm families stricken by the flood. In 2004 Farm Aid published the guide, 10 Ways to Ensure Healthy Food for You and Your Family.
