Before taking the stage to perform on Saturday, Farm Aid icons Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews gathered at noon in a former ice skating rink outside Hersheypark Stadium to talk about the plight of America's family farmers — and to pledge their continued support for the cause.
“I’m very sorry that we have to be here, because this problem should have been solved many years ago,” Nelson, the president of Farm Aid Inc., said during his opening remarks in Hersheypark Arena, just south of the stadium.
“We were all young men when we started this,” Mellencamp said. “We’ve helped a lot of people. I’m proud to be here every year and stand up for family farmers.”
“We are not going anywhere,” Young said after reading a letter from an Iowa dairy farmer who is having trouble keeping his business afloat. “We are going to stay right here and fight as long as we can stand.”
Young drew the loudest applause after an impassioned plea for family farmers to get more organized.
“Farmers out there have got to get together, even more than they have so far, so that all farmers have a big voice,” he said, then called for young people to get involved in farming. “Be a rebel,” he said, “become a farmer. It’s a mission from God. We need young blood on the farm.”
“You heard it hear first,” said Brian Snyder, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and a longtime Farm Aid supporter. “This is a mission from God. I don’t see how we can top that.”
Joining the quartet of musical stars on stage was performer Jack Johnson, who lives in Hawaii, and Farm Aid Executive Director Caroly Mugar, who has been part of the nonprofit organization since it began in 1985 with the first Farm Aid benefit concert at the University of Illinois.
“How lucky we are that these artists have stood up and said we need family farmers,” Mugar said.
A trio of local farmers also participated in the news conference, which featured a lot of wild cheering by a clearly partisan crowd of bloggers, farmers and Farm Aid volunteers.
Among the locals was Jenn Halpin, who manages a farm for Carlisle’s Dickinson College. Halpin was named a farm hero by Farm Aid in the run-up to today’s event.
“I’m trying to educate the next generation of farmers,” Halpin said. “It’s important to show them that while it is hard work, it is work of integrity.”
Matthews, who owns a farm in southern Virginia, has been a Farm Aid board member — and loyal performer — for several years. He said people need to choice to support local farmers by buying their products.
“Wherever you can, support local farmers, again and again,” he said. “You have to say, ‘I want to support the local people. I want to support the local farms.’¤”
The news conference ended shortly before 1 p.m., about an hour-and-a-half before Pegi Young, Neil Young’s wife, took the stage with her band, the Survivors.