Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to heighten awareness about family farms and to raise funds to keep families farming their land.  Dave Matthews recently joined the group. Farm Aid has raised more than $27 million to promote family farming by educating the public and awarding grants.  The Farm Aid concept is borrowed from Bob Dylan's Live Aid concerts.

John Mellencamp has said "farmers have a tremendous impact on the quality of food that we eat and Farm Aid is always a great show, but even more important is that Farm Aid helps the consumer and the family farmer work together for the benefit of all of us."  Farm Aid's mission is to offer farmers opportunities to provide consumers with good, local food and alternative fuels that protect our land and our health.

There is a huge momentum in New York State right now towards eating healthy and stemming the growing obesity and diabetes epidemic.  This has in part resulted in a partnership forged between NYC Council Speaker Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg to create an Office of Food and Hunger reporting to Deputy Mayor Gibbs.  And our new Governor Spitzer has also taken notice of this issue and the plight of NYS farmers by mentioning in his State of the State address the support of a NYC based wholesale farmer's market.

Look for more news about the Farm Bill and Farm Aid on this web site and watch or listen to John Mellencamp on (Don) Imus in the Morning on January 29 and February 6...check your local listings for the time.