Farm Aid

Farm Aid was started in 1985 by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp to raise awareness about family farms, and to raise money for farmers. For 22 years, they've been having concerts to educate people about the value of the American family farm.

This year's concert, held on Sept. 9th in New York City, featured 21 bands. Vendors provided fresh, local food to satisfy the growing demand for healthy, non-factory farm, non-hormone-laced food.

America's family farms face many challenges from bird flu to genetic engineering, globalization to factory farms. We can help family farms by buying local food, teaching kids how to grow food, and being aware of where our food comes from. Factory farms are producing hormone and antibiotic-laden meat and chemically-produced vegetables that have an adverse effect on our health, which costs billions in the health care industry. Helping family farms helps everyone.

Check out Food Routes, or Local Harvest to find farmers markets near you.