Family farmers celebrated at Farm Aid 2009

by Lauren Schad, posted Nov. 11, 2009

A mass of people waited in line outside the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis in anticipation of the Farm Aid concert and a celebration of the family farmer and classic rock music.

An estimated 21,000 people attended the concert to watch a diverse line-up of performers, ranging from Ernie Isley to Jason Mraz. The concert marked the first day of the 25th year of Farm Aid, making it the longest running benefit concert in existence.

To date, Farm Aid has raised nearly $36 million to support programs that help farmers continue to survive, increase promotion of food produced by family farms and take action against the dominance of industrial agriculture.

Performer Willie Nelson serves as president of Farm Aid and was one of the original founders in 1985. —photo by Lauren Schad

“If you’re looking for good food, you’ve got to get off the highway,” said Farm Aid President Willie Nelson. “You’ve got to go out into those farm areas where people are growing their own food. So help America, help the family farmer, because agriculture is the backbone of our country. The farmer is the bottom rung on agriculture. And we’ve got to help that guy.”

History of Farm Aid

Old friends and artists Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young joined forces in 1985 to start the concert and raise awareness about issues in agriculture. Nelson based the Farm Aid concert off of Bob Dylan’s Live Aid concert, except that proceeds would be directed toward American farmers.

“It all goes back to the 80s in the height of the Rural Crisis and it all started with the grassroots of people that wanted to pull together,” said Jen Fahy, Farm Aid Communications Director.

The first concert was in Champaign, Ill., and brought together more than 60 artists to 80,000 fans. It raised more than $7 million and increased awareness of the challenges faced by family farmers and rural communities.

Dave Matthews joined the Board of Directors in 2001. Previous concerts have been held in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

“We were due to get back to the Midwest,” Fahy said. “Missouri is a place we have really deep roots.”

Missouri has received help from many of Farm Aid’s founders. John Mellencamp came to Chillicothe, Mo., in 1986 to protest a farm lending office discriminating against family farmers. Willie Nelson also made a stop in Princeton, Mo., in 1995, to lead a march with more than 3,000 family farmers over Premium Standard Farms, a branch of factory farms.

The Good Food Movement

This year, Farm Aid’s big push is moving fresh food into school systems and markets across the nation — and Missouri is joining in on the campaign.

It is part of what Farm Aid calls the Good Food Movement, which is increasing the number of Americans seeking local, natural and humanely raised food. In 2008, Farm Aid made grants of $148,000 to organizations that helped connect farmers directly to the consumers and develop new markets for locally grown food.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure the food that is grown on our family farms across the state of Missouri gets into the schools, gets into grocery stores and gets to everyone,” said Mary Hendrickson, MU extension associate professor.

Hendrickson is partnering with central-Missouri farmers, such as Missouri Legacy Beef, to bring locally raised food to schools.  Missouri Legacy Beef, a family farm in Salisbury, Mo., currently supplies its products to MU’s Dobbs Pavilion, to give quality food to students.  She is also working with MU Bradford Farm to bring fresh apples and other produce into the other campus dining halls.

MU is also exploring ways to improve community food systems. The university is hosting a “farm to school” summit in December, giving food distributors and school officials the opportunity to discuss issues they may have. 

“It all comes back to the thing of education: in order to provide food for schools the administration has to be educated, and then the cafeteria staff has to learn to actually cook real food again,” said Nancy Smith, retired farmer and co-owner of Sappington Farmer’s Market, in St. Louis.

The St. Louis area is also working to bring fresh, Missouri farm food to students.

“We are already delivering farm fresh, natural and organic food to some of the school systems in St. Louis,” Smith said. “We started small and already the cafeteria staff is ordering more and more of our natural foods, and we have other schools asking to participate.”

Smith is working with St. Louis University on a program that is funded by Missouri Foundation for Health, which provides grants for projects that support the fresh food movement.

Hendrickson is optimistic about where their programs are headed in the future.

“It would be great if could see 25 percent of food at schools from Missouri farms,” Hendrickson said.

Looking to the Future

Another big push for Farm Aid this year is the importance of family farms, especially ones owned by young farmers. The importance is stressed in Farm Aid’s mission statement, which is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. All of the founding members of the Farm Aid Board of Directors agree that young farmers are the future of the work that they have started.

“I’m a young producer, and it’s really important to me to see young people try at least,” said Jason Stensland, a 23-year-old dairy farmer. “It’s a rollercoaster and there are a lot of ups and downs, and the key is to keep your head down and keep pluggin’ away.”

Stensland is a third-generation dairy farmer from Larchwood, Iowa. He and his brother, Justin, run their family’s farm, where they converted the farm to produce certified organic milk in 2006.

Artist Jason Mraz is part of the young-farmer movement himself. When he is not on tour, he farms an avocado orchard in California. Mraz was also number one on Mother Nature Network’s 40 Under 40 list, or forty farmers under the age of 40.

“It’s been about 5 years since I took over the trees. The trees luckily do it all themselves, just stand back and be mindful, and watch them grow and pick them when the time is right,” Mraz said.

The sold-out concert was a success that informed thousands of Americans across the country about the importance of agriculture and family farmers. While the location of the next concert has not been released, the organization is planning a special celebration for the conclusion of the 25th year, and hoping for their biggest concert yet.

For more information, visit Farm Aid online at: farmaid.org.

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