MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Farm Aid — the annual fundraising concerts launched by Willie Nelson,Neil Young and John Mellencamp during the farm crisis of the 1980s — celebrates its 40th anniversary on Saturday in Minneapolis.
The star-studded festivals are still raising public awareness of the challenges facing family farmers, and assisting struggling producers connect with help.
Nelson is now 92,Young is 79 and Mellencamp is 73, but they’re still going strong. Organizers announced Wednesday that Minnesota native Bob Dylan will be joining them. Others taking the stage at the University of Minnesota’s football stadium will include Dave Matthews,Margo Price,Kenny Chesney,Wynonna Judd, and Nathaniel Rateliff.
This year’s concert comes at a worrying time for American farmers. Farm profitability has been falling. Crop prices are low while production costs are rising. And the Trump administration’s trade wars have added to the insecurity. China has not bought any of the 2025 U.S. soybean crop so far and has turned to America’s competitors, such as Brazil, to meet its needs.
Nelson saves the day
A labor dispute nearly derailed the festival this year. Organizers said they would not cross the picket lines of striking teamster service workers at the university, saying “the farm and labor movements are inseparable.” Nelson got on the phone with Gov. Tim Walz. The university and union reached a deal late last week.
“The Governor knows how important this event is to farmers and farm country,” Walz spokesperson Claire Lancaster said. “He worked with all parties involved, including Willie Nelson, to find a solution.”
Farm Aid is thrilled that the show will go on.
“For four decades, Farm Aid has stood with farmers and workers,” organizers said in a statement that called the agreement “a reminder of what can be achieved when people come together in the spirit of fairness and solidarity.”
CNN will carry five hours of programming from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. CDT, featuring live performances by Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, Dylan, Matthews and Price. CNN will also stream it live on CNN.com, and on its apps without requiring a cable login. Sirius XM will carry it on satellite radio starting at noon CDT. Beginning at 11:30 a.m. CDT, it will also stream on the nugs live music platform and YouTube channel, and at FarmAid.org and on Farm Aid’s YouTube channel.
Farm Aid’s mission
This will be the ninth Farm Aid for Rateliff, whose music combines rock, soul, country, gospel, folk and Americana. He said he joined because he has long felt a connection to farming and the land.
“I grew up in rural Missouri, and grew up with agriculture around me, and we didn’t have much money as a family,” Rateliff recalled in an interview. “So we had a huge one-acre garden, and my mom canned a lot of stuff, and my dad and I would hunt squirrel and rabbit and deer and whatever else we could eat.”
Jennifer Fahy, Farm Aid’s co-executive director, said the founders never expected 40 years ago that they would be able to raise enough money to pay off all the debts and solve all the other problems of struggling farmers. She said their bigger hope was to foster systemic solutions.
“Farm Aid was kind of the first rallying point for farmers publicly,” Fahy recalled. “It was the first time that farmers would reach out and call a number.”
How Farm Aid helps
That hotline — 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243) — was one of their first initiatives. Operators mostly come from agricultural backgrounds. Fahy said they can help with immediate needs, then connect farmers with other resources, such as financial and business counseling, legal advice or mental health support, or help them navigate federal farm programs.
While emergency grants aren’t the main focus of Farm Aid — they’re $500 per farmer and totaled just around $50,000 last year — Fahy said the money may help a family in financial straits buy groceries or keep the heat on in a barn while they seek longer-term solutions.
Farm Aid has raised over $85 million over the years, making it one of the largest in a line of famed benefit concert series.
It awarded grants totaling just over $1 million in 2023, mostly to allied groups across the country, including the Missouri Rural Crisis Center that was launched with the help of a $10,000 grant.
Farm Aid also works with grassroots groups, such as the Land Stewardship Program in Minnesota, to organize rural communities, help maintain local control, and train new farmers.
Bridging the political divide
Rateliff said he keeps coming back to Farm Aid because not enough has changed. People are still fighting against the concentration of agriculture among bigger and bigger producers, he said. But he said music bridges political differences. He said his own fans include people who voted for Bernie Sanders, a self-named democratic socialist, and for President Donald Trump.
“What music has the ability to do is bring people together — to create commonality in a shared human experience — so that we all can examine ourselves together and see how alike we are,” Rateliff said.
Steve Karnowski
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