Thanks to generous funding from National Family Farm Coalition (of which we are a proud member), CAGJ Director Heather Day and Organizer noël lum recently attended Farm Aid 2023 in Noblesville, Indiana! Since 1985, Farm Aid has been held annually as a benefit concert to financially support family farms across the country. Over the long weekend, we were able to strengthen relationships amongst our delegation of over 40 farmers, fishers, and food advocates affiliated with NFFC and NAMA (North American Marine Alliance).
With organizers from BlockCorporateSalmon, we visited AquaBounty’s principal facility growing genetically engineered salmon, an hour away from the concert site in Albany, IN. There we met with whistleblower and former AquaBounty employee Braydon Humphrey whose findings provided the foundation for the BCS report “AquaBounty Exposed” released last year.
After holding a press conference near the facility, Farm Aid supported in hosting a salmon bake, featuring fish harvested by Randy Settler, a Yakama Tribal fisherman, from the Columbia River, to “share a deeper appreciation of where our food comes from in a cultural and spiritual context. This is in stark contrast to AquaBounty’s frankenfish, questionably labeled as salmon” – Carl Wassilie (Yup’ik), BCS Organizer.
On the day of the concert, BlockCorporateSalmon held a bustling exhibit at Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Village. Attendees screen-printed “Protect Wild Salmon” designs by Morgan Brown (Tsimshian/Ukrainian), and the exhibit was decorated with salmon art created at CAGJ’s Art & Activism workshop this past spring!
Immense gratitude to NFFC for this opportunity!
Read BlockCorporateSalmon’s full press release here.
