Conscious Choice: Farm Aid 2000

November 2000

Farm Aid 2000

by James Faber

The ongoing effort to fight the corporate takeover of agriculture was recently highlighted as Farm Aid presented its annual concert to benefit family farmers on a picturesque September day in Prince William County, Virginia — along with an important message to the American people.

"The farmers can decide this election," said president and cofounder of Farm Aid Willie Nelson after receiving a standing ovation from members of the press. "I can’t tell you who to vote for, but it’s pretty easy to figure out who is for the family farmer and who isn’t."

In this election year, Farm Aid is calling on presidential candidates, congressional representatives, and voters across America to help end the disastrous farm policies that have caused the lowest commodity prices in thirty years thereby forcing thousands of farm families from their homes and land.

"Ever since the first time we got together back in 1985, we’ve been telling elected officials that we’ve got to pass policies that favor families over corporations," said Nelson. "The time has come for the country to stand up for the farmers who grow our food. With prices as low as they’ve ever been, we all need to show these candidates that the farm vote extends beyond the farm belt."

Presidential candidates Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, and John Hagelin also came to Virginia on the morning of the concert to attend a special family farm forum and to hear proposed solutions to the government policies that have allowed factories to replace families in the food production system. A representative from the Gore campaign also attended the forum, but notably absent was anyone from the Bush campaign.

When Farm Aid cofounder Neil Young addressed the press, he commented on Bush’s absence. "It looks like another one of Bush’s great moves," said Young. "We need to get the right people in office who will make the changes we need made to put together a program that will save family farms, and not be held hostage by conglomerates."

The concept for Farm Aid was born during the 1985 Live Aid Concert (a benefit to fight starvation and disease in Ethiopia) when Bob Dylan said on stage that it would be great if people did something for our own farmers here in America. Willie Nelson agreed and decided to produce a concert that would recognize American family farmers and bring their plight to the attention of the American people.

A few weeks after Live Aid, Nelson was joined by Young, John Mellencamp, and sixty other musical artists for the first Farm Aid concert, which drew an audience of 80,000 people in Champaign, Illinois.

Since that first concert Farm Aid has granted more than $15 million to more than a hundred farm organizations, churches, and service agencies in forty-four states.

Unfortunately, American family farmers are still facing a crisis, as corporate factory farms continue to move in and push the family farming system of agriculture to the brink of extinction.

The numbers are frightening: today, the average farmer earns less than $7,000 annually from on-farm income, and among all occupations in the United States family farmers are facing the greatest decline. Between 1993 and 1997, the number of midsized family farms dropped by 74,440. The farmer’s share of each food dollar has also dropped steadily over the last forty years, from 41 cents in 1950 to only 20 cents in 1999. Nearly half of all American farmers are over age fifty-five, while just 8 percent are under age thirty-five.

"There is still an ongoing need for the kind of help Farm Aid provides," said Mellencamp. "We’re still doing Farm Aid concerts because it is still contributing. It’s still doing a job."

Best Buy sponsored this year’s event and presented Farm Aid with a check for $300,000 during the concert, which featured cofounders Nelson, Young, and Mellencamp, along with more than twenty other musical artists, including the Barenaked Ladies; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Travis Tritt; Arlo Guthrie; Alan Jackson; and the North Mississippi Allstars. Vice-president Al Gore’s wife Tipper also attended the concert and sat in on drums during Willie Nelson’s performance.

New this year is the release of Farm Aid: Volume One Live, a double CD featuring twenty-five tracks of some of the most memorable musical performances on stage at Farm Aid over the past fifteen years.

The CD was released by Redline Entertainment with all net proceeds going to Farm Aid. All the tracks on the CD were donated by the artists and their labels, and it includes performances from the three founding members of Farm Aid, as well as songs from the Dave Matthews Band, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Beck, the Neville Brothers, Martina McBride, and others.

As Farm Aid celebrates its fifteenth anniversary, it remains an important tool in the fight against corporatization of agriculture — but the war is far from over.

"The next time we get together for an anniversary, I hope it’s a celebration of the successful efforts farm families have made to take back our food system," said Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid executive director. "Until then, we will continue to stand by them and help forge those changes."

To support America’s family farmers with a donation, call 800-FARM AID. For more information, or to purchase the Farm Aid CD, or other Farm Aid merchandise, visit the Web site.

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