Farm Aid Turns Twenty

Twenty years ago, Bob Dylan paused during his Live Aid performance at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium and made a casual suggestion: Maybe "a little bit" of the money raised for African famine relief could go to struggling American family farmers. At least one of the millions of people watching took Dylan's words to heart. "I started asking people about the farm problems," says Willie Nelson, who grew up in the farming community of Abbott, Texas. "And we decided to do a Farm Aid. We thought that one concert would be all that was necessary."

Instead, Nelson and co-founders John Mellencamp and Neil Young will celebrate twenty years of Farm Aid on September 18th with a concert in Tinley Park, Illinois, with Los Lonely Boys, Wilco, Emmylou Harris, John Mayer and Buddy Guy. As both an annual fund-raising show and a year-round charitable organization, Farm Aid has spent the past two decades fighting for family farmers in the face of government foreclosures, corporate megafarms and public indifference. "There was a time when we couldn't even get people to understand what we were doing," says Mellencamp. "We'd say, 'This is our fifth Farm Aid,' and they're going, 'You're still doing that?'"

Farm Aid has never had trouble recruiting musicians, though. In addition to Young, Nelson and Mellencamp, the first show, on September 22nd, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, included John Fogerty's first solo performance and sets by Van Halen, Johnny Cash and Lou Reed. "We had just played Live Aid not long before that, and I always thought that Farm Aid was a much better show," says Tom Petty, whose Heartbreakers backed Bob Dylan that year. Iggy Pop and Guns n' Roses played in 1990. Numerous artists, including Steve Earle, Dave Matthews Band and Emmylou Harris, have become Farm Aid regulars.

Matthews, in particular, showed so much passion for the cause that Nelson -- who is president of Farm Aid -- invited him to join Mellencamp and Young on the organization's board of directors. "Farmers are the foundation of this country," says Matthews, who runs an organic farm in Scottsville, Virginia. "They're unsung heroes of the world, and I'm happy to sing on their behalf."

Farm Aid has given away around $17 million over the years, mostly via small grants to community groups whose work benefits family farms. It also steps in during emergencies: On September 1st, Farm Aid donated $30,000 to farmers whose properties were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. "We know how to put a little bit of money where it means a lot," says Farm Aid executive director Carolyn Mugar. "It's not always the big money that turns something around." Roger Allison and Rhonda Perry, who run a cattle farm in Armstrong, Missouri, received a $10,000 grant in 1985 to start an emergency food program for hungry farmers. "In the Eighties, farmers were feeling hopeless and marginalized," says Allison. "But Farm Aid was hope."

Farm Aid's fight hasn't been easy -- there are 400,000 fewer family farms today than there were in 1985. But skyrocketing consumer demand for organic food is a major opportunity for small farmers, and a growing market for biodiesel -- fuel made from vegetable oils -- offers a new revenue stream. "I was starting to think we were fighting a noble but useless battle until I heard about biodiesel," says Nelson, who uses the fuel for his tour bus.

Still, the musicians don't expect the struggle to end any time soon. "I'll be part of Farm Aid for as long as it's necessary," says Matthews. "And the way it seems right now, it's going to be necessary for a long time."