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Breaking: Farm Aid to Celebrate 40th Anniversary in Minneapolis
- Bob Benenson
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The Sept. 20 Festival and Concert Will Be Held at University of Minnesota's Stadium
Farm Aid — the trailblazing, musician-driven non-profit advocate for family farmers and a better food system — made big news today with the announcement that its 40th anniversary festival and concert will be held in Minneapolis on Saturday, September 20.
The locations for these events have typically been unveiled in mid-summer, so today's announcement came as a surprise. But that could be because Farm Aid has a lot more seats to sell than usual: After a series of festivals held at summer outdoor music venues, Farm Aid 2025 will be held at Huntington Bank Stadium on the campus of University of Minnesota — home to the school's Golden Gophers football team — which seats more than 50,000 attendees.
This is something of an echo of the first Farm Aid concert. Thrown together over a few weeks in response to the damaging farm crisis of the 1980s, Farm Aid 1 was held in the stadium on the campus of University of Illinois in Champaign.
The organization was created by music stars Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, with Dave Matthews and Margo Price joining the Farm Aid board later. All are expected to perform at Farm Aid 40, along with (according to Farm Aid's announcement) "Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards, and more artists to be announced this summer."
The Festival will again feature its Homegrown Village, where attendees have opportunities to meet dozens of national and regional non-profits working toward our mutual goal of a better food system. Minneapolis region food and farm non-profits are urged to consider applying to participate.
The founders of Farm Aid said they expected their 1985 event to be a one-off. But the economic issues facing family farmers and the impact of the rise of conventional agriculture on the environment not only didn't go away, but in fact worsened.
This year's event takes place at a time when the Trump administration's erratic policy changes and its determination to eliminate climate change and diversity from the vernacular of farm policy are raising critical concerns.
Willie Nelson, in a statement included in Farm Aid's announcement today, said:
"For 40 years, Farm Aid and our partners have stood with farmers, supporting them to stay on their land even when corporate power, bad policies and broken promises make it harder to keep going. This year, we're proud to bring Farm Aid to Minnesota to celebrate the farmers who sustain us and to fight for a food system that works for all of us. Family farmers aren't backing down, and neither are we."
Tickets go on sale this week! Here's the scoop from Farm Aid:
Make sure you don't miss this momentous occasion to celebrate family farmers and the 40 year history of the farm movement! Join us this September by securing tickets starting tomorrow. Ticket prices range from $101 to $390.
Pre-sale: A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be available beginning at 10am CDT on Wednesday, May 14. Visit farmaid.org/tickets for more information.
Public Sale: Tickets for Farm Aid 40 go on sale on Friday, May 16 at 10am CDT and will be available for purchase here.
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