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Farm Aid Sets Last Weekend in September for Annual Festival

  • Writer: Bob Benenson
    Bob Benenson
  • 3 minutes ago
  • 2 min read

City and Venue for Farm Aid 41 to Be Announced in June


Farm Aid — the non-profit that has advocated for family farmers and a better food system for 41 years — has announced that it will hold its annual festival and concert on September 26, with side events held on September 24 and 25.


The city and venue for Farm Aid 41 will be announced in June.


Farm Aid was founded in 1985 by music stars Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp to help small farmers facing economic devastation in the midst of a major rural economic crisis.


Farm Aid 1 was held in Champaign, Illinois and was intended as a one-off event. But even as the farm crisis diminished, family farmers continued to be challenged by the rise to dominance of the conventional food system and the concentration and corporatizing of farmland.


The organization has continued its powerful advocacy role, which includes the pursuit of a healthier, more sustainable, fairer and more humane food system. The founders continue their roles as Board leaders (and concert performers), joined in more recent years by Dave Matthews, Margo Price and (as of this year) Nathaniel Ratlieff.


If you have never attended the Farm Aid Festival, you should go at least once. It is a true gathering of the tribe of advocates of better-for-people-and-the-planet food. My first Farm Aid was in 2015, when the organization held its 30th anniversary festival at Chicago's Huntington Bank Pavilion.


Farm Aid 30. Photo by Bob Benenson
Farm Aid 30. Photo by Bob Benenson

I have become a regular, covering the event for Local Food Forum in 2023 (Noblesville, Indiana), 2024 (Saratoga Springs, New York), and the 40th anniversary festival last September that drew 37,000 attendees to the University of Minnesota football stadium in Minneapolis.


Farm Aid 40. Photo by Bob Benenson
Farm Aid 40. Photo by Bob Benenson

Local Food Forum will provide much more details about Farm Aid 41 — including the festival's impactful non-music programming and how to buy tickets — after the venue is announced.


This event is always a highlight of my year. I can't wait...



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