By CINDY LADAGE

Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The first Farm Aid fundraiser took place in Champaign, where singers Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized a concert in 1985. The purpose was to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and funds to keep farm families on the land.

Singer Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid board of directors in 2001. Since its beginning, the organization has raised more than $53 million to help farmers.

In December 2018, Farm Aid released a total of $695,679. These grants went to family farms, rural services and urban agricultural organizations in 35 states and the District of Columbia. A few lucky recipients in the first concert’s home state were included in these.

Jen Fahy, communications director for Farm Aid, said the grant program came out of the initial concert. The first round of funds handed out was, for the time, a whopping $7 million.

“It was a lot of farmers and those that cared about farmers and advocated for them,” she said. “In the 33.5 years since then, they have become full-fledged grass roots groups. A portion of the money we raise goes to those organizations because we want to strengthen those organizations.

“We receive more requests than we are able to fill, but we have a key group we are able to fund.”

Unlike many organizations, she said Farm Aid does not shy away from funding a group several times in a row. “We fund several groups because we believe strongly in supporting these organizations in a continuous way, and we stay connected to them.”

Many farmers turn to Farm Aid because it is a visible presence. “We hear from farmers every day on our hotline,” Fahy said – calls come both from farmers in crisis needing emergency help, and those interested in getting started farming or just in local agriculture.

The hotline then hooks the callers to the proper partners, hopefully in their own states. “Farm Aid gets a lot of calls because there is that awareness of Willie Nelson and Farm Aid. We want to connect them as close to their state as we can,” she pointed out.

“It is groups like the Illinois Stewardship Alliance (ISA) and others making programs possible. With the federal government not functioning (during the shutdown), these state-based groups are making an impact you can see.”

One moving note she said is that “Willie Nelson is involved in all of the grant decisions, and he signs all of the checks. We review all of the grant proposals, then all of that is reported to Willie, and he approves and signs.”

Down-home aid

Food Works is one of the downstate Illinois recipients of a grant this time. Based in Carbondale, it serves the 23 southernmost counties in Illinois. Director Jennifer Paulson explained it is a nonprofit working to help grow economical, sustainable food.

“We help small farmers train and learn how to grow and make it in goodness and markets. We cover a big area that is wide-ranging. There are not many organizations that supply this kind of farming or eating in southern Illinois,” she said.

Food Works also helps with farmers’ markets and agritourism events, “foodie” events and supports Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Double Coupon program. “I like to say we are the growing future of food.”

The group has big plans for the funding. “We were so excited about the grant. We want to focus on helping farmers with three to 10 years’ experience, to help them fine-tune or scale up their operation to be successful,” Paulson said.

To help them do this, Food Works offers farm training workshops, and they cover legal basics, and it supports young farming families. She is seeing a trend of young first-generation farm families – “Many are graduates of our year-long program.”

The program offers business basics, a business plan and field days and sustainable training. As part of the program, Food Works attempts to find mentors so new farmers have support of someone who has walked in their shoes. Over the years there have been 36 graduates of the program.

With many young people becoming parents, Food Works is seeing a fall-off in return of these young farmers to workshops. It wants to try to provide support and help the families with the demands of parenthood as part of their grant funding.

“Farm Aid has been so great to work with, and we are so appreciative. We have been working with them since 2014,” said Paulson.

The ISA, located in Springfield, is also one of the grant recipients. Executive Director Liz Moran Stelk explained, “We have been a proud supporter of Farm Aid for a long time. They support farmers and farm organizations and lately, they have been in the news because of their help with dairy farmers and their support line.”

The ISA is working, she said, “to make a more just and economical food system.”

During 2018 it successfully partnered with the National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition and offered farm tours and educational workshops as part of its initiatives to ensure local food programs. Stelk said one of its biggest accomplishments was funding for the Local Agricultural Market Program.

“This got a permanent base funding in the farm bill and it was our No. 1 priority. We are so excited because it sends a message that direct markets count.” Now with part of its grant from Farm Aid, the ISA is assisting with program implementation.

In 2019 it will work with the Healthy Local Food Incentive. This bill allowed those using SNAP at local farmers’ markets to double their money – Double Coupons. If a purchaser using SNAP spends $2, for example, it counts as $4.

“If the state appropriates funds, we could get federal funds to get food for people and money for farmers,” Stelk explained about this program that adds fresh food to diets and money in local farmers’ pockets.

The ISA partnered on the Healthy Local Food Incentive with Prevent Obesity, the American Heart Assoc. and Illinois Food Bank. It is also working with the state legislature to advance soil health.

“Illinois has low adoption of cover crops. This program provides $5 per acre reduction in crop insurance (premiums),” she said. “We are exploring private partnerships. There is a nutrient problem and we want to help protect nutrient loss in the soil. This program is intended as an incentive program.”

The growing of hemp was approved in the 2018 farm bill, and the ISA hopes the Illinois Department of Agriculture will produce rules for the 2019 growing season. “We will provide a definitive resource for the licensing guide.”

The guide it already provides has been downloaded more than 1,000 times in the last six months. Stelk wants to ensure this viable market remains in the hands of the farmers that produce the crop.

Another recent huge success the ISA was part of was the legislature passing several bills cottage food bills that help local grocers and allow farmers to add value to their own raw products on the farm.