Farm Aid 2019: Media Backgrounder

Farm Aid 2019 will be Saturday, September 21, at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, marking the second time that Farm Aid has brought its music and food festival to the state. In 2010, Farm Aid celebrated its 25th anniversary in Milwaukee at Miller Park.

Farm Aid 2019 features performances by:

• Willie Nelson, Farm Aid President and Founder • John Mellencamp, Board Member and Co-Founder • Neil Young, Board Member and Co-Founder • Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), Board Member • Bonnie Raitt • Luke Combs • Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats • Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real • Margo Price • Jamey Johnson • Tanya Tucker • Jamestown Revival • Yola • Particle Kid • Ian Mellencamp • Wisdom Indian Dancers • Ho-Chunk Thundercloud

Tickets for Farm Aid 2019 sold out in record time for the third year in a row! To learn more about this year’s festival visit farmaid.org/festival.

Farm Aid 2019 is an all-day music and food festival featuring:

• Generous artists: A unique blend of artists from many genres donate their performances and come at their own expense to stand with family farmers and celebrate good food.

• HOMEGROWN Concessions®: Pioneering a change in food for the music business, HOMEGROWN Concessions® features family farm food according to Farm Aid’s criteria: sustainably produced by family farmers, using ecological practices, with a fair price paid to the farmers. HOMEGROWN Concessions® has fed more than 283,000 festivalgoers since its introduction at Farm Aid in 2007. Backstage, artists and crew enjoy HOMEGROWN Catering with the same family farm standards. Farm Aid uses all compostable serviceware and promotes and facilitates composting for the venue with a goal of zero waste.

• HOMEGROWN Village: Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Village features hands-on activities about soil, water, energy, food and farming. Festivalgoers can hear farmers and artists discuss pressing issues and share inspiring stories on the FarmYard Stage and attend demonstrations to learn agrarian skills and celebrate the culture of agriculture in the HOMEGROWN Skills tent.

Festivalgoers can access the entire Farm Aid experience through the official Farm Aid 2019 mobile app, which is available for iPhone and Android devices. Fans can learn details about Farm Aid 2019 from the HOMEGROWN Concessions® menu to the stories of local farmers, as well as make their own personalized schedule of music, workshops and artist briefings for the day. Farm Aid’s Ongoing Commitment

• Family farmers play a vital role as an economic driver and cultural foundation for America’s rural communities. They provide practical solutions to some of our most pressing challenges, with the potential to improve and sustain rural economies, mitigate climate change and steward our soil and water, and provide good food for our health. Farm Aid galvanizes family farmers, artists, activists, advocates and eaters in support of a farm and food system that is good for the soil, water, people and communities — not one focused on the profits of a few. • Since 1985, Farm Aid has stood with family farmers, providing resources in times of need and growing a network of advocates committed to keeping family farmers on the land. Farm Aid helps farmers navigate challenges and connects them with people and resources that support farmers in crisis; get beginning farmers on the land; support farmers seeking new practices that care for the soil and water; and keep those already growing good food right where they should be. • Farmers are enduring a six-year slump in crop and livestock prices that is pushing many to the financial brink. Since 2013, America’s farmers and ranchers have weathered a nearly 50% drop in net farm income.i In addition, trade disputes have further depressed their prices and markets, and historic natural disasters continue to threaten their operations. • Farm Aid has raised $57 million to help farmers thrive through direct services like our farmer hotline; to expand the reach of the Good Food Movement by making connections between farmers and eaters; to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture through policy advocacy and organizing; and to promote food from family farms through the annual Farm Aid festival, publications, our website, videos and more.

Why Wisconsin? • Like farmers across the country, Wisconsin farmers are experiencing the impacts of intensifying corporate consolidation, a multi-year downturn in the U.S. agricultural economy, rising production costs, diminished crop yields from extreme weather this spring and market disruptions due to trade wars. • Wisconsin agriculture contributes $88 billion each year to the state’s economy, of which almost half is from dairy. In fact, 413,500 jobs in the state — or about one in nine — are agriculture related. Every job in agriculture supports an additional 1.46 jobs elsewhere in Wisconsin.ii • Hardworking Wisconsin farmers operate 64,800 farms on more than 14 million acres, with the average farm size being 221 acres.iii • Dairy farming is an essential part of the state’s culture, and dairy farms are an economic engine that powers Wisconsin. The state is home to about 7,700 dairy farms — more than any other state — and 1.28 million cows.iv There were 691 dairy farm closings in 2018, which reduced the state’s total by 7.9% as of January 1, 2019.v Since then, another 388 Wisconsin dairy farms have closed.vi • Wisconsin cheesemakers make 26% of the nation’s cheese, producing 3.42 billion pounds in 2018.vii • In 2018, Wisconsin had 49 Chapter 12 bankruptcies — more than any other state. (Chapter 12 is designated almost specifically for family farms.viii The number of Chapter 12 bankruptcies does not tell the full story of farms going out of business, since some farmers exit without filing Chapter 12, while others file for other kinds of bankruptcies.) • Recent Farm Aid grantees in the region include Family Farm Defenders, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, Wisconsin Farmers Union and Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service in Wisconsin; Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Food Works and The Land Connection in Illinois; Farmers Legal Action Group, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Land Stewardship Project and The Food Group in Minnesota; and Practical Farmers of Iowa and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement in Iowa.

Highlights From the March 2019 Farm Income Forecast