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Farm Aid in New England
Music, sunshine and a whole lot of energy for the good food movement. |
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For the first time since it started in 1985, Farm Aid held its annual farmer-benefit concert near its Boston-area home base. Fans from across the country quickly snatched up the 20,000 tickets for the event, held at Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. This longest-running benefit concert in the nation has raised more than $30 million to aid farmers and the grassroots groups that provide support, practical information and educational opportunities to them. The venue provided a wooded glade that was transformed into the concert’s Homegrown Village, which housed many local and regional organic and sustainable food and agriculture groups. The Farmyard tent featured the just-minted Farmer Resource Network (FRN), an easily searchable database that guides users to ag-support information tied to their location and specific situation. National partners for the FRN are Rodale Institute, NCAT’s ATTRA program and the Organic Farming Research Foundation. Highlighting the national partners, linking to their home pages and describing their farmer-centered information helps users to know where they can be helped. Advancing its efforts to model a sustainable food system, Farm Aid staff started early to become what they believe is the “only concert event to serve family farm food to concertgoers, artists, crews and VIPs at concessions and in backstage catering, demonstrating what is possible in efforts to bring more family farm food to more people,” a press release stated. “By growing food, fiber and fuel in ways that protect the air, water and soil, family farmers play an important role in addressing some of the biggest problems facing our country including global warming,” said Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid. Compostable vending materials and volunteer-monitored, multi-stream recycling centers were also part of a comprehensive effort to decrease the event’s carbon footprint. Kicking off the weekend was a Farm Aid Eve fundraising evening at Henrietta’s Table (www.henriettastable.com), hosted by the restaurant’s chef, Peter Davis—a stalwart and creative supporter of local and regional foods. Farm Aid organizers worked throughout the summer to contact regional farmers, and highlighted them on their website and throughout the day on the stage in the Homegrown Village. For a visual tour of the day, see our slideshow.For advance news on next year’s Farm Aid concert, you’ll have to sign up for the FarmYard and stay tuned. |
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Right, Farm Aid sure is for farmers
There they were, all proud of themselves up on that stage and talking their talk, yup, all for farmers. Did anyone of that well-known lineup even mention NAIS? Nope. I was able to get the attention of Carolyn Mugar to ask her why. She promised to take my phone call, her aid affirmed the promise. I called to talk to Carolyn who did not take my phone call nor return it. Does Farm Aid really care about farmers or are they just about staying in the limelight? As I told Carolyn, if you don't take up NAIS soon, next year or the year after there won't be any Farmers to aid.
I've fought NAIS for 5 years without getting paid by anyone to do it. I've fought for 5 years just trying to get a foot in the door with one, just one, high profile so-called for the farmer, for real food lobby group or organization and have not been successful.
What will it take for you all to get a fire in your belly and understand how serious NAIS is? You can talk all you want about sustainable ag, soil health, blah blah blah, that's all it is. If you really wanted to do something you'd step up and stop NAIS at the federal level.
Farmer freedom , homeland and food securty
I sure am thankful for a group of folk like the Farm Aid guys.
The work and good things that you are doing is so very great.
Let me highlight an other area where we need your help. In Pennsylvaia we have a big problem with farmer freedom,or the lack of it. The government seems to think that we small farmers don't know how to cook,so the gotta inspect out kitchens to see that all
our pots and pans are just perfect. They don't seem to think that we know how to make cheese and other dairy product,so they gotta come inspect how we do it.
These government officials will come unannoused, any time they want to and take up our precious time to tell ua what we don't want to know and to give us licenses to do things that we have been doing for 10,000 years.
WE really do know how to raise, cook, and eat our food. we don't need and don't want permissinon, i,e, permits for doing what we can jolly well do on our own.
It is time for the government to get off the property of the small family farm and let us alone do what we are so good at. We are sick and tired of being talked down to, prosecuted and persecuted.
The events fo the past year at the Mark Nolt farm and what was done to Trent Hendricks speaks of repression more like a Nazi regime then a commonwealth of free poeple.
We farmers just refuse to be governed this way.
Jonas K. Stoltzfus. President , Pennsylvania Independent Consumers and Farmers Association.
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