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October 02, 2006
Farm Aid Rocks!
This past Saturday, Camden, New Jersey, played host to the 21st Farm Aid concert, which included performances by board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews. They were joined by other performers such as Steve Earle, Jerry Lee Lewis, Steel Pulse, and Los Lonely Boys.
(Seated in the photo, from left to right - Chef Ann Cooper, Carolyn Mugar, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews.)
The day started off with a huge press conference that included the Mayor of Camden, artists performing in the show that night and small family farmers who lived in the area. The event was hosted by Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid, who was helped by Ann Cooper, the chef at the Ross School in the Hamptons on Long Island. Cooper is a huge advocate for sustainable food and converted the Ross School's cafeteria to a sustainable eatery.
Neil Young mentioned that when his daughter started college in Ohio, she commented that the food sucked. Young got invovled and helped start the "Food for Thought" program there, which connects local farmers to schools. He's hoping the program can expand nationwide so all schools can have a chance to purchase local, sustainable food.
The nice thing about this Farm Aid was the focus on the positive. The speakers at the press conference stressed that things were changing for the better and that the sustainable food movement is an exciting movement that's getting bigger and bigger each day. The call to action was to start where you are, just as we here at Sustainable Table tell people all the time. You can't go completely sustainable overnight, so start where you are. Take one product and pledge to buy it as locally and as sustainably as possible, whether that be milk or apples or steak. Do what you can - and have fun doing it!
Neil Young also said, "There's a conscience behind all the money we make." He said that the Farm Aid folks do communicate with each other and the farmers and people who need help, and that they are all working hard to make a difference.
For anyone in the sustainable food movement, Farm Aid is an excellent place to come and meet like-minded folks. We were able to catch up with colleagues, old friends, and even made new connections (and came up with some great ideas!)
What do you think about an Eat Well Guide road trip to Farm Aid in 2007? We're thinking of driving cross country to highlight not just the Eat Well Guide but all the great places that are serving fresh, local food. We'd also like to hook up with groups in the areas we stop in, host events, and let the world know through this blog, our forum and our web sites that the sustainable food movement is here to stay. We could take people on certain stretches of the trip, have interviews from the road, and turn the trip into a sustainable event. And it would all lead up to next year's Farm Aid concert. We'll let you know if this is actually going to happen so stay tuned!
Posted by diane at October 2, 2006 03:09 PM
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