FARM AID ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP TRANSITION

Jennifer Fahy, Shorlette Ammons Named Co-Executive Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Farm Aid Board of Directors has appointed Shorlette Ammons and Jennifer Fahy to lead the organization effective January 1, 2025, succeeding Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid's first and only executive director since the organization's founding in 1985. Mugar will remain in relationship with Farm Aid as an advisor. Additionally, Associate Director Glenda Yoder is departing the organization at the end of 2024 after 34 years.

Fahy, who joined Farm Aid in 2002 and has served as communications director since 2008, and Ammons, who has served as the organization's program director since 2022, will share leadership responsibilities in the ongoing mission to cultivate a family farm-centered system of agriculture in America.

"There would not be 40 years of Farm Aid without Carolyn Mugar (and for all those years she's made me look good!). I am deeply grateful for her passion and commitment leading Farm Aid's work, listening to farmers and always being a champion of grassroots organizations," said Farm Aid President and Co-founder Willie Nelson. "Carolyn and Glenda rallied the Good Food Movement to bring people together in support of farmers."

"All of us at Farm Aid confidently trust that Shorlette and Jennifer are poised to lead Farm Aid's next chapter to benefit farmers, eaters and our soil and water," said Mugar. "We face urgent issues with the health of our planet, and I'm thankful Farm Aid has a strong foundation for the next leaders to build upon."

In addition to her deep experience managing communications for the organization and co-producing the Farm Aid festival, Fahy holds a certificate in nonprofit management at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. Ammons, who comes from a farm family in North Carolina, spent her career prior to Farm Aid addressing the systemic barriers that BIPOC, low-income and rural food and farming communities face. She has 20 years of experience in community leadership, training, education and engagement.

"My two-decade career at Farm Aid has offered me incredible opportunities to dig into a broad spectrum of the work and operations of the organization, for which I am grateful and proud," said Fahy. "Farm Aid's people are its greatest strength, and I am thrilled to deepen my work with all of the folks — from farmers and artists to our supporters, advocates, policymakers and everyone who eats — who make up this organization and this movement for thriving family farmers."

"As a Black Southern woman who grew up in the family farm tradition, I have a deep understanding of the struggles of family farmers and rural communities," said Ammons. "I know the ways that food and music bring folks together. So, for me, this transition has been taking place over the course of my lifetime of work and service. I'm excited to step into this role to live up to the legacy of Farm Aid's leadership and the resistance that marginalized communities have demonstrated since the farm crisis of the 80s and throughout our shared history."

Farm Aid's mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid's work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. For more than 35 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $80 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.

SOURCE Farm Aid