Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Bring Farm Aid to New York Foodies- Blo

By Alan Bjerga

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Farm Aid, an annual concert rooted in the Midwest farm crisis of the 1980s, is getting transplanted to New York in the hope that urbanites will be receptive to the benefit's new emphasis on earth-friendly, local farming.

Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews -- all members of Farm Aid's board of directors -- will take the stage on Randall's Island, in the East River, on Sunday, along with Counting Crows, Guster, the Ditty Bops and others.
This year's festival, which has corporate sponsors such as Whole Foods Market Inc., comes at a time of record crop values and rising food prices. Even with the Midwest crisis over, however, Farm Aid still sees a need to support small-scale farmers, many of whom have survived by moving into the increasingly popular organic market. Addressing that need led to the urban venue.

``New York is where food trends are set. It's the biggest media market,'' Farm Aid spokeswoman Glenda Yoder said. ``It's precisely where we need to be.'' On Manhattan's Union Square, for example, the fresh-food bazaar known as the Greenmarket draws about 250,000 people a week to its many stalls of small- farm produce.

The first Farm Aid, held in Illinois in 1985, drew some 80,000 people and raised about $7 million to help family farms, mainly in the Midwest, devastated by plunging crop prices and land values. Among Farm Aid's early services: a farmer suicide hotline.

Last year, when the concert raised about $1 million, U.S. crop values reached a record $122.4 billion. About 25,000 people are expected to attend this year's show. And farmers calling Farm Aid's hotline usually want advice on how to switch from industrial to organic agriculture, Yoder said.

Fast Growth

Organic and natural food make up the fastest-growing segment of U.S. grocery sales, responsible for 4.6 percent of the $566 billion U.S. food industry in 2006. That's up from 2.6 percent in 2000, said Jason Phillips, chief researcher for Nutrition Business Journal in Denver.

The segment's growth has been a boon for farmers who adjusted to the 1980s crisis by switching to smaller-scale niche crops. Organic farming, because of its bans on pesticides and hormones and emphasis on land-friendly farming practices, lends itself to smaller farms, especially in states with expensive land such as New York, Yoder said.

And natural-foods consumers are more likely to buy products from companies that are perceived to be pro-small farmer, Phillips said. Those customers are also more likely to live in large cities, where specialty grocers may be part of everyday life even if farming isn't, he said.

On Message

``The bottom line is, you're sticking yourself in front of a bunch of people who literally may buy your message,'' he said.

Green-tinged sponsors are also getting into the act, including Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. WhiteWave Foods Co., maker of Horizon Organic milk and Silk soy milk, is buying wind-power credits equivalent to the gasoline burned traveling by auto to and from the concert, according to spokeswoman Molly Keveney.

Whole Foods is donating 5 percent of its Northeast-store sales on Tuesday, Sept. 11, more than $60,000, to Farm Aid, said Jeff Turnas, vice president for northeast U.S. Whole Foods stores.

Martin Ping, the manager of Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, New York, about 120 miles north of New York City, sells at the Greenmarket every Wednesday and Saturday and offers children's camps to teach the value of rural life. That's similar to what Farm Aid is now trying to do in New York, he said.

``If we can educate our urban brothers and sisters to appreciate farming and the work farmers do, more of us can stay successful,' ' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Bjerga in Washington at abjerga@bloomberg. net .