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We hear it for Farm Aid

Farm Aid

Farm Aid, the music festival to benefit American family farmers, is in its 26th year. With this year’s concert scheduled for Aug. 13 in Kansas City, Kan., it’s a good time to review the event’s relevancy. What began as a response to a farm crisis has changed over time, but the goal is the same: Support farmers who are struggling.

The Kansas City Star and the Lawrence Journal-World weighed in on the subject in stories this week that explored the financial, historical and emotional connections made by Farm Aid. Highly recommended reading: Farm Aid shifts focus since first concert in '85; Funding channels for Farm Aid in Kansas lack adequate cultivation.

At Harvest Public Media, though, we came at the question in a little bit different way. We asked you.

This Field Notes episode shares something new here at Harvest Public Media. We’ve just launched our Harvest Network with Peggy Lowe. This arm of Harvest Public Media “queries” anyone who cares to weigh in on questions about food, fuel and field. You just have to be part of the Network, or join when you see a query (through our web site and social media) you’d like to weigh in on. It’s a different way to gain even deeper insight into agriculture and the complicated concerns of the day.

So in this episode, I talked to Lowe about what she found out in our first query, which was about the relevance of Farm Aid. The 40 responses we received really helped us paint a unique picture of the nonprofit’s impact.

If you are interested in signing up for the Network,listen to this episode to hear Peggy explain her work and what she’s looking for. Or simply go to the Harvest Network page on our web site.