In case you’ve been in a cave for the last two decades, Farm Aid is:

The nonprofit organization, whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land, works with organizations to help family farmers thrive through programs that develop local food markets, training, youth education and food awareness initiatives.

Farm Aid promotes food from family farms, helps grow the good food movement and takes action to change the “system”. How? The most visible of the organization’s work is an annual daylong concert featuring some of the top names in music - headliners Willie Nelson, Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews.

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The annual concert seeks to unite “farmers, artists, consumers, and concerned citizens to build a powerful movement for good food from family farms.” The musicians above will be joined by such conscious artists Tim Reynolds, The Allman Brothers, Counting Crows, Matisyahu, and Guster, among others. The concert has the goal of being the first ever to serve 100% local, organic, humanely-raised and family-farmed food.

Expanding beyond the borders of the music event, Farm Aid has arranged for New York restaurants to participate in the program Fresh from the Family Farm on Sept 4th-11th. Participating restaurants will provide at least one dish that is either “grown locally, produced by a family farm, or certified organic, and the proceeds benefit Farm Aid.”

The Good Food Movement seeks to highlight the benefits of purchasing from small local farms to consumers. They have various ways to find good food, and a quick reference page for understanding labels such as "organic," "fair trade," and "free farm certified," as well what "hormone," "antibiotic," and "GE free" means. They also briefly address the common problems with all-natural and free-range products.

With agribusiness’s “processing and marketing 95% of all commercial food,” and thousands of families pushed off their farms each year, it’s important that intervention happens before the family farm is extinct. Bringing awareness to the family farmer’s plight is especially relevant now as the 2007 Farm Bill is being debated in Congress. Through subsides focused on selected crops, billions of dollars ends up funneled into large corporate farms with only a few small drops making it down to the family farms. As we are becoming more aware of the dangers of food altered through genetic engineering and irradiation, and the effects of food miles, unsustainable farming practices, and dumping due to subsidies, we are at risk of losing the ability to choose something better as the small farmer slowly disappears. As consumers, our most powerful voice is through our dollars, so look to shop local, organic and fair trade and support your local farmers.

For example, Sustainable Table kicks off their Eat Well Guided Tour of America today in Hollywood. The organization celebrates the sustainable food movement and works to educate people about food-related issues, while building community around food.

In addition to this organizational mission, the tour has a special undertaking all its own: the search for the best pie in the country. The reason behind this specific goal seems obvious to me – pie is GOOD. But apparently, pie is also a metaphor for wholesome, local food. The pies share something about the area where they are made, and the people who make them. Plus, pie is GOOD.

Beginning with a kick-off celebration at Kings Road Park, the tour is headed across the country to the Farm Aid concert at Randall’s Island in New York on September 9th. The group, traveling via bio-fueled bus, will stop at locations in 25 cities along the way – including Pie Ranch in Madera, CA (where, surely, only good things can happen), Berkeley, Chicago, and Iowa City. At each stop, local organizations will help to host events open to the public.

Another road trip, sponsored by the Clean Fuel Caravan Coalition, celebrates a broad array of sustainable issues. The Sustainable Living Roadshow was created to educate, entertain, and inspire individuals and communities to help us live in direct sustainable harmony with the earth. Making its way from San Francisco to Miami, the Roadshow stops at college campuses and local festivals, working to empower and encourage local efforts.

Focused on practical solutions to everyday problems, the off-the-grid, zero-waste “experiential learning villages” introduces people to topics like renewable energy and sustainable food. To do this, the Roadshow uses just about every method available, from speakers and workshops to a clean energy/vehicle showcase and an eco-fashion show. Entertainment includes The Big Tadoo Puppet Crew, which kids will surely love. Check out the Roadshow’s video to get a taste of the eclectic, carnival-like atmosphere.

With events like these making their way around the country, who needs grandma? (Just kidding, Grandma.)