SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — Farm Aid is more than a family of musicians banding together to help the small farmer. It's also a family meal.
A key component of Farm Aid concerts — this year's is taking place Saturday in Saratoga Springs — is the food, which comes through Farm Aid's Homegrown Concessions. It was started six years ago to create new markets for family farmers.
Vendors, which include local food-service outlets, as well as national brands such as Chipotle and Amy's Organic, must meet Farm Aid's criteria for sourcing the ingredients in their food, from organic flour in the panini to free-ranging, antibiotic-free hogs on the barbecue grill.
Even the cotton candy has a family farm origin, made from maple syrup produced in the Catskills.