In August 1969, when Max Yasgur hosted the Woodstock Music and Art Fair at his farm in Bethel, N.Y., he wasn’t the kind of guy you’d expect to revel in “three days of peace and music.”
Yasgur, then 49, was a conservative Republican who supported the Vietnam War. He was also the biggest dairy farmer in Sullivan County, and his interest in inviting nearly half a million hippies to his land was driven by the rental fee he could charge, which would help offset recent flood damage at the farm.
“The vagaries of farming obviously played a huge role in the fact that Woodstock happened here,” said John Conway, Sullivan County’s historian.
Woodstock became a junction between America’s agricultural tradition and a postwar generation that was rejecting the consumer culture their parents had built by going “back to the garden.” Half a century later, our era of environmental decay and ultraprocessed foods is still stoking that countercultural impulse, as new generations of back-to-landers get acquainted with the “vagaries of farming” in the 21st century.
The urge to farm among young people is gaining strength. In Sullivan County, the latest census data show that of the 749 producers reported, 36 percent were new and beginning farmers. We spoke with Sullivan County farmers of all ages who followed their own calls to the land, finding ways to sustain their commitment any way they can.
