Learn more about Against the Grain: The Farm Aid Podcast
Against the Grain brings the magic of Farm Aid’s annual festival to listeners year-round. Hear from farmers and artists, advocates and food experts, activists and policymakers – all of whom are working towards building a more just and equitable farm and food system.
Click here to listen! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 21, 2025
CONTACT:
Camille Jewell
202-248-5460
cjewell@vancomm.com
“Against the Grain: The Farm Aid Podcast” Joins the Heritage Radio Network
BOSTON — Farm Aid’s acclaimed podcast, “Against the Grain: The Farm Aid Podcast,” has joined the Heritage Radio Network (HRN) — the only podcast network dedicated to food, beverages and the culinary world. The podcast brings the magic of Farm Aid’s annual festival to listeners year-round, featuring compelling conversations with artists, farmers, advocates, food experts, activists and policymakers who are working to build a more just and equitable farm and food system.
“We are thrilled about this new partnership with HRN,” said Farm Aid’s Online Communications and Marketing Manager and host Jessica Ilyse Kurn. “’Against the Grain: The Farm Aid Podcast,’ was created to amplify the diverse voices throughout farming and agriculture. With this podcast, we can bring stories of farmers and people working to change the system directly to listeners.”
In the podcast’s second series of episodes, which came out earlier this year, Kurn and podcast co-host Michael Stewart Foley explore musical artists and activism. They spoke with more than two dozen performing artists who are using their art and voices as vehicles for political engagement and expression— sparking conversations and inspiring action on the issues that shape our lives.
“Against the Grain’s” first series of episodes — also available on HRN — took listeners on the road to visit extraordinary members of the Farm Aid universe, from backstage at the 2024 festival in Saratoga Springs, New York, to the heart of Luck, Texas. These individuals are fighting industrial agriculture giants, holding the government accountable, and shifting the culture toward a food and farm model that is better for farmers, our planet and all of us.
“Farm Aid is an incredible organization with deeply rooted values that align closely with our own,” said HRN Head of Marketing Stacy Basko. “Shows such as ‘Feast + Harmony,’ also a collaborator on this partnership, features how music, food and entertainment bring people together, while our shows with farm-focused programming highlight our mission of sustainable agriculture. We are thrilled to bring ‘Against The Grain,’ a natural fit, to our listeners.”
The third series of episodes will be released later this year, bringing listeners to Minnesota — where Farm Aid’s 40th anniversary festival took place — to spotlight the work of farmers and others fighting corporate dominance in meat processing. The podcast team also caught up with rural thought leaders to explore the strong power of community in rural America and sentiments around the so-called rural and urban divide. Learn more and catch up now at farmaid.org/podcast. Listeners can also tune in wherever podcasts are available (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, YouTube, etc.), as well as on the HRN website.
Farm Aid marked its historic 40th anniversary last month on September 20, 2025, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, celebrating a powerful movement born from what was intended to be a one-time concert in 1985. The anniversary coincides with a moment when family farmers are facing the worst economic and environmental pressures in decades, echoing the crisis of the 1980s.
About Farm Aid: Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $85 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.
About HRN: Heritage Radio Network is a nonprofit on a mission to build a more sustainable world by shifting the way we think about food. The organization creates podcasts that explore the rich and essential stories behind food while passing the microphone to both established and emerging voices. HRN started as a grassroots gathering of people involved in the local food scene in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY in 2009. A recording studio inside a shipping container behind Roberta’s pizza served as the nerve center for pirate radio broadcasts on food and drink. Since then, HRN has collaborated with thought leaders, celebrity chefs, food advocates, and forward-thinking brands in addition to the countless fellows who discover their voices through the network’s educational programming. It all happens with support from HRN’s devoted listeners.
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