Farmaid 2004

I was greatly moved by the Farmaid 2004 concert at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, WA which I attended last Satuday with some friends. Founded 20 years ago by a group of American musicians, including Willie Nelson and Niel Young, Farmaid's aim is to help American Families keep their farms by raising enough money every year to help support the family farms. Proceeds of the Farmaid concert are used to operate the Farmaid hotlines (1-800-FARM-AID) that provide immediate help to family-owned farms in crisis. It also provides financial assisstance for families to keep their farm going.

The concert is not only conducted for entertainment and for fund-raising purposes, it is also used as venue for creating awareness on the problems facing family-owned farms accross the United States and Canada. It's also a campaign to support family farmers by encouraging people to buy food from family farms instead of from large, corporate food manufacturers. In a way, it's also a campaign against corporate greed! But some people will argue that corporate food manufacturers are but an inevitable sign of progress.

So, is this concert then, a campaign against progress? Ah, the million-dollar question!

I don't believe so. Neither do the founders of Farmaid. As Neil Young himself said, progress is good only if it helps people improve their way of living. We do not have to pay for progress with people's lives, heritage, and culture. "It doesn't have to be that way," he said. And I agree. Whether it's happening here in the US or in my home country, the Philippines, or anywhere in the world! It doesn't have to be that way. With this in mind, I'd like to invite every concerned Filipino to help our own country preserve our heritage and our culture by visiting the following links:

Fund Drive to help save the Ifugao Rice Terraces:
http://www.inq7.net/reg/2004/jun/19/reg_3-1.htm

Philippines Faces an Uphill Battle to Save The Rice Terraces:
http://www.thingsasian.com/goto_article/article.2124.html

Check out these images of the magnificent Banawe Rice Terraces

Let's all do our share even if it's as little as helping creating awareness for what needs to be done. Please feel free to copy this message and forward it to your friends/families/anyone through email or any other means.

As for the concert itself, among the artists that performed were Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Marc Broussard, Trick Poney, Blue Merle, Kitty Jerry, Tegan and Sara, and Jerry Lee Lewis. As you can probably guess, the only reason I bought the tickets was because of Dave, Niel, and Willie. As it turned out, it was one of the most beautiful and touching concerts I've ever seen. I'll definitely watch it again next year even if Dave isn't performing.