“What happens at a Farm Aid concert opens up people’s hearts,” says Farm Aid executive director CAROLYN MUGAR (center), at the 2008 event at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., with DAVE MATTHEWS, JOHN MELLENCAMP, WILLIE NELSON and NEIL YOUNG (from left).
Photo by Mark O'Stow
A great article on Farm Aid organization in BILLBOARD MAGAZINE by Thom Duffy.
Farm Aid is both America’s and the music industry’s longest-running philanthropic concert for a cause.
The support of the music industry has helped Farm Aid influence a profound shift in the cultural landscape of the country during the past quarter century.
The organization’s work, as Nelson has said, simply affects everyone who eats.
Farm Aid deserves credit for promoting many of the positive developments in food culture in the United States in recent years: the growth of farmers markets, the rise of community-supported agriculture groups, the spread of farm-to-table “slow food” restaurants and the wider use of sustainable farming practices.
And those changes in food culture and farming practices, in turn, are affecting much broader issues, from health-care costs to the fight against climate change.
“We started out to save the family farmer,” Nelson says. “Now it looks like the family farmer is going to save us.”
Check out whole article BILLBOARD MAGAZINE (PDF via Farm Aid.)
That's right Willie, 'cause it's the new Mother Nature taking over. It's the new Mother Nature come to call. It's the new Mother Nature take'in over, she's getting us all..."
ReplyDeleteI think at one time early on Neil stated that they didn't want to have to have the need to continue it, that thru the Farm Aid efforts farmers could get back on their feet and not need their help anymore. Too bad it hasn't happened that way, but not suprising. Bless them who give of time talent and coin. Another situation where the regs and rules have reinged in the opportunity for free enterprise to maintain itself?
ReplyDeleteRules & Regs have reigned in on opportunity for free enterprise to maintain itself?
ReplyDeleteIn theory "free enterprise" is suppose to work, but what happens is that because of our human nature to be greedy, people are motivated by money and end up up sacrificing quality for quantity which edges out the smaller farms.
Only when we make a conscientious decision to buy local and support local agriculture are we helping our American farmers.
Forget that "free enterprise" bullshit. Nothing ever good came out of "free enterprise" because people are too greedy. Ever read Aesop's Fables?