Country, Rock Stars Draw 50,000 to Farm Aid Show

Willie Nelson and nearly 50 other country and rock stars performed Saturday in the fifth Farm Aid benefit concert for organizations that help rural America.

“We need everybody’s help to educate the American people to how important it is to keep the family farmer on the land,” Nelson said before the 12-hour show.

More than 50,000 people enjoyed sunny, 80-degree weather for the program at Texas Stadium, home of pro football’s Dallas Cowboys.

Those joining Nelson included Paul Simon, John Mellencamp, Richard Marx, Michelle Shocked, the Kentucky Headhunters and Petra. Comedians Roseanne Arnold, Tom Arnold and Steve Allen introduced some of the acts.

Concert-goer Ray Sutton, who said he has attended every Farm Aid concert, drove overnight from Kansas City to see the show.

“Family farmers are disappearing,” he said. “They’ll probably all disappear because of corporations, but until then, we can try to help them.”

Rock star Neil Young decried the spread of corporate farming to developing nations. Farmers in those countries are being persuaded to grow cash crops and rely on imported food, much of it from the United States, he said.

“We’re living in a dream here that we’re feeding the world when really we’re choking the world,” Young said. “I’ll be here the rest of my life to stop that.”

The concert was expected to raise more than $1 million for Farm Aid, a nonprofit organization that supports dozens of food banks, assistance hot lines and other service groups in rural areas.

The first Farm Aid concert in September, 1985, the height of the farm crisis, raised $7 million. The three since, including the last one two years ago, and other fund-raising efforts have brought in a total of $5 million more.