For nearly 40 years, Farm Aid has stood alongside family farmers, working people, and communities to build a more just and sustainable food system. Our 40th anniversary celebration, scheduled for September 20 at the University of Minnesota, is intended to honor that history and the resilience of America’s farmers.
We want nothing more than to hold this event as planned. We have worked in partnership with the staff at Huntington Bank Stadium to create a spectacular event. However, Farm Aid has always stood with workers in their struggles for fairness, dignity, and respect. Today, the University’s Teamsters employees are on strike because of the University’s inability to come back to the table to resolve this contract dispute justly. We are deeply concerned that this jeopardizes our ability to hold Farm Aid 40 as planned but primarily puts these workers in a place of hardship as they labor to provide basic needs for their families.
The farm and labor movements are intertwined. Time and again farmers and workers have shown up for each other in solidarity. We are proud that the Teamsters support our festival each year! Our artists, production team and partners have made clear that they will not cross a picket line. The team that is scheduled tomorrow to begin building our complex stage and set is made up of loyal production people who have an ongoing relationship with labor across the U.S. They also will not cross a picket line. These decisions reflect our own values: the farm and labor movements are inseparable, and we believe strongly that the University must return to the bargaining table in good faith.
We are currently looking at all of our options for hosting this event, but it is not an easy task to pivot at this point. It is critical to understand that if Farm Aid 40 is forced to move or cancel, the financial impact could be devastating. The expenses already incurred to bring this historic event to Minnesota may well threaten the survival of our organization after four decades of service to family farmers.
We are urging the University of Minnesota to settle this contract quickly so that Farm Aid 40 can proceed as intended — to celebrate four decades of farmers, music, and solidarity. The world is watching, and together we can make sure this anniversary is remembered for unity, not division.
