Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995                   TAG: 9510020119
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY.                                LENGTH: Medium

SPOTLIGHT DIMMER FOR FARM AID

But Farm Aid, begun during the family farm crisis of the 1980s, will celebrate its 10th anniversary today with a scaled-down concert anyway.

``It's harder to keep the issue in the spotlight now. It's not like when farms were on the auction blocks or on the front page like in the mid-80s,'' said Carolyn Mugar, director of Farm Aid Inc.

Country singer John Conlee, one of the original supporters, said the United States is ``only a heartbeat away'' from another farm crisis. ``That's why we're doing another show 10 years later.''

Nearly one-fourth of the nation's 600,000 full-time farmers are in financial distress, according to the Farmers Home Administration. The Agriculture Department says an average of 500 farms - most of them small family spreads - go under each week.

The first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Ill., attracted 80,000 fans and raised $9 million in 1985. More than 100 performers volunteered. Several cable channels carried the entire all-day concert. Prime time devoted three hours. The nation's leading magazines and newspapers bannered the concert and cause on front pages.

Ten years later, the family farm crisis has gone ``from page 3 or 4 to the last page'' of newspapers, Conlee said. The struggle is just to keep the issue alive.

Organizers chose to downsize this year in favor of lower production costs and longer sets, but hope to raise up to $1 million. The concert will feature seven performers: Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Conlee, Hootie & the Blowfish, the Dave Matthews Band and Blackhawk.