Farm Aid 30: Strength from Our Roots

September 17^th & 18^th, 2015
Chicago, IL

To mark Farm Aid’s 30^th anniversary, Farm Aid 30: Strength From Our Roots gathered farmers, activists, farm advocates and civic leaders from across the country to engage in inspired storytelling, inter-generational exchange, meaningful reflection and strategic analysis.

Drawing from the moment that created Farm Aid – the 1980s Farm Crisis – the two-day gathering illuminated deeper lessons from a pivotal moment in America’s agricultural history. Strength from Our Roots reviewed the responses to the farm crisis and reflected upon what we’ve accomplished over 30 years in order to better understand where we are today and how positive change is made.

To view the REPORT from Farm Aid 30: Strength from Our Roots click here.

Highlights, recordings, and resources from the gathering can be found below.

Farm Aid would like thank our generous sponsors who helped to make this unique gathering possible: 11th Hour Project, Organic Valley, TomKat Charitable Trust, New Visions Foundation, Walter S. Mander Foundation, and Fresh Taste.

Session Highlights

Our Shared History: Beginning Days of Farm Aid

The gathering’s first panel revisited the conditions that sparked the first Farm Aid concert in 1985, what family farmers were experiencing and what it meant for Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young to join farmers in their struggle.

“We were lucky. We had Farm Aid to come together and celebrate…We had ways to build the love together.”

~ Mark Ritchie, Former Minnesota Secretary of State

Moderator: Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown

Panel

Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid
Mark Ritchie, Former Minnesota Secretary of State
David Senter, American Agriculture Movement
Roger Allison, Missouri Rural Crisis Center
Paul Sobocinski, Land Stewardship Project
Helen Waller, National Save the Family Farm Coalition
Ralph Paige, Federation of Southern Cooperatives

The Frontlines of the Farm Crisis: Farm Advocates

During the 80s farm crisis, a handful of farmers struggling to save their own farms started using their experience to help their neighbors fight back against foreclosure and abuse. The term “Farm Advocate” emerged to describe this frontline, farmer-to-farmer assistance.

Homeplace Under Fire, a documentary film produced by Farm Aid to tell the story of the farm advocates we have worked with since 1985, was screened. Following the screening, the small group of farm advocates who are still at it—having saved thousands of farms during their careers—gathered for discussion.

Watch the trailer for Homeplace Under Fire:

Moderator: Charlie Thompson, Duke University Center for Documentary Studies and director of Homeplace Under Fire

Panel

Mona Lee Brock, National Farm Crisis Center
Benny Bunting, Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA
Linda Hessman, Farm Advocate
Lou Anne Kling, Farmers’ Legal Action Group
Betty Puckett, Louisiana Interchurch Conference
Shirley Sherrod, Southwest Georgia Project
John Zippert, Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Building Our Power: The United Farmer & Rancher Congress

In September 1986, nearly 2,000 farmers and ranchers traveled to St. Louis, Missouri for the three-day United Farmer & Rancher Congress (UFRC). They represented rural America in crisis and came together to craft solutions. The Congress was a truly grassroots feat, gathering input from rural caucuses across the country to put forward policy solutions that would end the crisis and advance a brighter future. The progress made at the UFRC and via ensuing organizing work yielded major policy gains still critical for advancing family farm agriculture today.

Moderator: Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown

Panel

George Naylor, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
David Senter, American Agriculture Movement
Shirley Sherrod, Southwest Georgia Project
Pat Sweeney, Western Organization of Resource Councils
Mary Ellen Lloyd, National Council of Churches
Mark Ritchie, Former Minnesota Secretary of State

Emerging Leaders Panel

Emerging leaders from rural organizing, farmer support and good food organizations shared their thoughts on how their work connects to the work of the past and how we can strengthen our collective capacity moving forward.

“They worked as a family. They organized as a family. That’s something that we have to do and continue to do, but we can’t do it without the generation before us.”

~ Amber Bell, Southwest Georgia Project

Moderator: Tim Gibbons, Missouri Rural Crisis Center

Panel