Willie once said the government's treatment of our family farms is a "black eye on America" - concur. 30 years after the first Farm Aid concert happened to raise awareness, and support, and advocate for smaller farms - the message still needs to be broadcast. The underlying reasoning here is that a diversity of agriculture (as opposed to planting 100 sq miles of soybeans) was healthier for the land, and locally owned farms cycled money back into their communities more effectively than investment-owned factory farms... The continuation of farming traditions and a certain way of life also factored into this no doubt; the idea of the farmer as a cornerstone of rural life as described in this blog many times. In agreement...
Farm Aid raises money all year for various programs as above, but the concert is the focal point - for many years anchored by Dave Matthew, John Cougar Mellencamp, Neil Young and Willie Nelson.
Concert kicks off at noonish Chicago time tomorrow - you can watch by webcast from 2:30 [EDT? - ed.] . Willie goes on last, around 10pm. Watch and donate throughout via FarmAid.org. Heck - they even have an app...