Farm Aid Delivers Hay and Hope to Family Farmers Hit By Katrina and Rita
SOMERVILLE, Mass., Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ — Farm Aid announced today that it will expand its efforts to assist family farmers hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast, delivering urgently needed hay and hosting trainings to help farmers get access to federal disaster programs.
“Farmers are still having a heck of a time getting their lives and farms back together,” said Farm Aid President Willie Nelson. “Farm Aid is committed to helping these farmers with their immediate needs, as well as working with our partners to develop long-term solutions that will help get farmers back on their feet as soon as possible.”
This week, Farm Aid is shipping hundreds of hay bales to Louisiana livestock and dairy farmers who lost their hay and pastures in the storm surges of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The hay is being shipped from across the country to several staging areas set up by the Louisiana State University Agriculture Center to quickly get feed and hay to cattle displaced by the hurricane.
Also this week, Farm Aid is sponsoring the first of several planned workshops across the region to train farm advocates on the latest rules and regulations related to federal farm disaster programs. The workshops, which will take places in Epes, AL, Thursday and Friday, will bring together 50 advocates from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The workshops will train advocates to work one-on-one with farmers, helping them identify ways to access federal disaster assistance. Farm Aid and its partners, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, the Rural Advancement Fund International and the Farmers Legal Action Group, will take the training to other farm groups in the surrounding states over the coming weeks.
When Hurricane Katrina first hit the Gulf Coast last month, Farm Aid activated its Family Farm Disaster Fund to bring immediate relief to farm families devastated by the storm. Farm Aid offers a comprehensive range of services to farmers hit by disasters, such as fielding hotline calls from farmers, distributing funds to farm families for emergency needs, coordinating relief efforts among its partners, hosting trainings, and shipping supplies, food and hay to affected areas.
Farm Aid is marking its 20th Anniversary in 2005. Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised awareness about the critical role of family farms and raised more than $28 million to support national, regional and local programs that promote food from family farms and strengthen family farm agriculture. Farm Aid’s 20th Anniversary Concert took place Sept. 18 in Chicago and will air starting on Thanksgiving on INHD2, iN DEMAND’s high definition network, as well as on Video-on-Demand or Pay-Per-View. FARM AID: A Song for America (Rodale, $35.00) was released this fall and chronicles the series of concerts and the accomplishments of the organization that galvanized a grassroots movement for the independent family farm. This book brings to life the power of music to create change.
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