23,000 Hear Nelson, Mellencamp Rock at Sold-Out Farm Aid ’99

A sold-out crowd of 23,000 people listened to Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Barenaked Ladies, the Dave Matthews Band and other performers Sunday at Farm Aid ’99.

The daylong concert at the Nissan Pavilion in Prince William County, near the nation’s capital, gathered hundreds of activists to press for laws to help independent growers hurt by weak farm prices and to stave off corporate control of the food sector.

Nelson, Mellencamp and Neil Young founded Farm Aid in 1985 to increase awareness of the plight of family farmers and to raise money for their survival.

Since then, Farm Aid has given $14.5 million to more than 100 farm organizations, churches and service groups in 44 states. Concert founders said their dire warnings made 15 years ago increasingly have been realized, with the government now estimating there are fewer than 2 million farms remaining in the United States.

“We’re here to make sure family farmers continue to be part of this country’s future,” Nelson said. “The future of the American family farmer is the future of communities, families, businesses and churches, the quality of food and the environment.”