KANSAS
CITY, KANSAS — Farm Aid and
the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame recently announced
that Farm Aid founder and president Willie Nelson will be inducted into the
Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Nelson
will be honored in a ceremony to take place on the morning before Farm Aid’s
2011 concert scheduled for August 13 at LIVESTRONG
Sporting Park
in Kansas City, Kansas.
“We
want to recognize Mr. Nelson for his long commitment to America’s family farmers,” says Cathi Hahner,
executive director of the National
Agricultural Center
and Hall of Fame. “To this day, he continues the work that he started back in
1985 when he, along with John Mellencamp and Neil Young, organized the first
Farm Aid concert, raising millions of dollars and drawing enormous attention to
the devastating economic problems faced by this country’s family farmers and
their communities.”
As
Farm Aid’s founder and president, Nelson has been a champion in the work to
raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm
families on their land. Over the past 26 years, Farm Aid has raised more than
$39 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture
that ensures farmers a fair living, strengthens our communities, protects our
natural resources, and delivers good food for all.
“I
am extremely honored and humbled to join the company of the 38 prominent
inductees already in the Agricultural Hall of Fame,” Nelson says. “I have long
said that family farmers are the backbone of our country. I never thought Farm
Aid would need to be around as long as it has been, but we know our country
needs family farmers, and Farm Aid will be here as long as family farmers need
us. It’s up to all of us to work together to keep family farmers growing.”
Growing
up in the small farm town of Abbott, Texas, Nelson gained a
respect and admiration for family farmers and the value of hard work. Through
his work with Farm Aid, Nelson has worked with local, regional and national
organizations to promote fair farm policies and grassroots organizing campaigns
designed to defend and bolster family farm-centered agriculture. By
strengthening the voices of family farmers, Farm Aid stands up for the most
resourceful, heroic Americans – the family farmers who work the land.
“Willie
has said he realized early on that playing the guitar was a heck of a lot
easier than being a farmer,” says Farm Aid executive director and long-time friend
Carolyn Mugar. “The family farmer has never had a better friend than Willie
Nelson; he has worked tirelessly to stand up for family farmers and the good
food we all want.”
The
Agricultural Hall of Fame’s inductees include George Washington Carver, John
Deere, Louise Stanley and Thomas Jefferson. The National Agricultural
Center and Hall of Fame
was issued a rare federal charter by the act of the 86th Congress to serve as
the national museum of agriculture and to honor the American farmer. Today, it
sits on a 164 acre complex in the Kansas City, Kansas, metro area that includes the Agricultural Hall ofFame, Museum of Farming,
Farm Town USA,
Poultry Museum and the National Farmers
Memorial, which stands as the nation’s only national monument honoring the American
farmer – past, present and future.
Farm
Aid 2011, the organization’s 26th annual benefit concert, will be held August
13 in Kansas City, Kansas. For more information, visit the FarmAid website.
Farm
Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture
in America.
Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp
and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s
work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food.
Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their
performances each year, has raised more than $39 million to support programs
that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take
action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture, and promote
food from family farms.
