Plea to help farmers falls on stony ground

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Some of the biggest names in pop, including U2 and Robbie Williams, have declined to play at the giant benefit planned by Michael Eavis, the founder of the Glastonbury festival, to help farmers hit by foot-and-mouth disease.

Mr Eavis, who is a dairy farmer, said yesterday he had faced resistance from members of the music industry to his plan for Farm Aid, despite their previous enthusiasm for charitable ventures.

However, Coldplay, who are riding high with their debut album, Parachutes, Ash, Toploader and Reef have agreed to headline the gig which will take place from midday to midnight at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium on 27 October.

Mr Eavis is still hopeful of signing other big names within the next few days, with acts such as the Manic Street Preachers and the Charlatans high on his wish-list.

He hopes the line-up will attract an audience of about 50,000, with tickets at £25 going on sale next Monday. Money raised will be distributed between six charities.

Mr Eavis said he had approached most of the leading names in British rock and pop, but received a cool response from many. "I don't know why but they seem slightly uncomfortable about getting involved," he said.

"No one has come back to me and said they don't agree with it. But farmers have been getting a bad press. People think they all get huge subsidies and ride around in four-wheel-drive vehicles, but I know many farmers who can't even afford a car.

"We should remember that thousands of farmers out there are really struggling, they look after the countryside and do a great job but they are finding it almost impossible to earn a living. There's a real crisis at the moment."

Mr Eavis, who cancelled the annual pop festival at his farm in Pilton, near Glastonbury in Somerset, this year after problems with overcrowding last summer, had been banking on his many friends in the music industry to help make Farm Aid a success.

Of those who have already agreed to participate, Reef are West Country neighbours while Coldplay are such good friends that they played at the party Mr Eavis traditionally throws as a thank-you to the villagers of Pilton even though there was no festival this year.

The venture has had additional problems – bands already on tour are unwilling or unable to break their schedule, and exclusivity deals can limit the number of performances by popular artists.

Mr Eavis said he knew of the concerns some musicians and young people had with the farming industry. "I am well aware of what needs doing from our end. I see this concert as not only a fund-raiser for desperate farmers ... but as a new beginning in terms of environmental and sustainable policies for farming."