FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 12, 2025
CONTACT:
Camille Jewell
202-248-5460
cjewell@vancomm.com
Farm Aid 40: What to Expect
All-day music and food festival engages Minnesota farms, businesses and organizations
MINNEAPOLIS — Farm Aid 40, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, will showcase an all-star lineup of musical artists — all donating their performances in support of family farmers and HOMEGROWN food. Farm Aid is proud to work with regional farmers, farm organizations and businesses to bring local flavor and experiences to the event.
“Farm Aid is more than a festival—it’s a celebration of family farmers and the diverse food and farming culture that unites us,” said co-executive director Shorlette Ammons. “As we celebrate and reflect on 40 years, the pride we have in standing with farmers has not faded. From the powerful music and stories on our Farm Aid stage to the HOMEGROWN flavors on our plates, to the experience of rural culture in our HOMEGROWN Village, folks get to see, taste and feel how farming ties us all together, nourishing our communities and fueling our ongoing movement for a just food system for all people.”
Tickets for Farm Aid’s 40th anniversary music and food festival are available for purchase at farmaid40.org. Ticket prices range from $101 to $390 (fees included, not sales tax). For venue information, visit farmaid.org/festival/venue-information.
Information about the Farm Aid 40 festival:
- HOMEGROWN Village (Noon to 5 p.m.) will engage festivalgoers in hands-on activities about climate, soil, water, energy, food and farming. Activities include Village scavenger hunts, dried flower button making, checking out soil health with microscopes, local food screen print creation and much more. Festivalgoers can hear farmers and artists discuss pressing issues and share inspiring stories on the FarmYard Stage. In the HOMEGROWN Skills Tent, attendees can participate in hands-on demonstrations, including beekeeping, fermentation, using flowers to dye fabric and sharing seeds in our annual seed swap.
- All food served at the festival is HOMEGROWN Food® — sourced from family farmers who use ecological production practices and are paid a fair price. A varied menu — all served on compostable serviceware — from diverse farmers will offer local beef pho, wild rice bratwursts with cider sauerkraut, honey ice cream, cheese curds and more. Special kitchen collaborations with Patchwork Family Farms and Owamni Restaurant will be featured in Club Cambria. Additionally, the stadium is piloting use of r.Cup, a reusable item to reduce single-use cups. Second Harvest Heartland will receive food left over from the event.
- Young people from 4-H, the Grange, and Urban Roots will staff the HOMEGROWN Youthmarket. Festivalgoers can meet these young adults, learn about the work they do in their communities, get to know the farms represented and taste fresh fruits, vegetables, baked goods and other snacks from local farms.
- HOMEGROWN Catering (which serves artists, crew, volunteers and staff) received in-kind donations from Cozzini Bros., Della Rice, Eco-Products, Equal Exchange, Frites Street, Frontier Co-op, Honeybear Brands, Horizon Organic, MTRY & CO, Natural Tableware, Nixie, Open Water, Organic Valley, Painterland Sisters, Parkhurst Dining, Patchwork Family Farms, Seven Sundays, Simple Mills, StageWater, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed and Tractor Beverage Co.
- Flowers, straw bales and pumpkin décor are being purchased from Twin Cities Flower Exchange and its partner farms, including Beezie’s Blooms, Duluth Flower Farm, Green Earth Growers, Gullywash Gardens, Milkhouse Flowers, Pretty Good Flower Farm, Rust & Sunshine, Sarah’s Cottage Creations, Turtle Creek Farm and Walker Flower Farm. Additionally, Farm Aid is working with Wright Farms, Waldoch Farm and Len Busch Roses.
- Farm Aid merchandise will feature shirts and hoodies grown with organic cotton from Texas, produced and printed in the U.S., along with hats, bandanas, tote bags, festival posters and more. New limited-edition items include a screen-printed Roots Print by artist Gary Houston and produced by Andy MacDougall and Wachiay Studio.
Additional Farm Aid 40 details for festivalgoers and fans tuning in at home:
- Farm Aid 40 will feature performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young (and the Chrome Hearts), John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), and Margo Price, as well as Kenny Chesney, Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson, Trampled by Turtles, Wynonna Judd, Steve Earle, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards and Wisdom Indian Dancers.
- Fans at home get an exclusive opportunity to view the morning’s press-only event featuring farmers from across the state and their personal stories at home on their farms. These stories will be featured in the Farm Aid press event and during all TV and online broadcasts. They offer fans at home a special opportunity to experience a dynamic conversation between Minnesota farmers and Farm Aid artists, as well as bring the experiences and hope of Minnesota farmers to an audience that, like many of us, doesn’t fully know the complexity and challenges of agriculture.
- CNN’s special presentation of Farm Aid 40 will air from 6 to 11 p.m. CT and will feature live interviews and performances. CNN Anchors John Berman and Laura Coates will co-anchor the special coverage, and CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir will provide on-the-ground reporting live from the festival. CNN will also stream the event live on CNN.com and via CNN’s apps on connected TVs and mobile devices, without requiring a cable login.
- SiriusXM is the exclusive audio-only broadcaster of Farm Aid 40, and beginning at 12 p.m. CT on September 20, SiriusXM subscribers will be able to listen to the full Farm Aid 40 festival on SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse (channel 61) and Dave Matthews Band Radio (channel 30) in cars and on the SiriusXM app. The live coverage will also include backstage interviews with artists and family farmers, hosted by SiriusXM’s Dallas Wayne and Joey Black.
- Fans around the world can watch Farm Aid 40 live for free on nugs via the nugs mobile app, at nugs.net or on the official nugs YouTube channel starting at 11:30 a.m. CT. nugs All Access subscribers will also be able to stream the festival on the big screen through Roku and Apple TV.
- Farm Aid will livestream the full festival from the stage beginning at 11:30 a.m. CT with the Farm Aid press event at org and on Farm Aid’s YouTube channel.
Festivalgoers can access the entire Farm Aid experience through the official Farm Aid 40 mobile app, available now for iPhone and Android devices. Fans will be able to use the app to get details about the HOMEGROWN Concessions® menu, learn the stories of local farmers and make a personalized schedule of music, workshops and artist briefings for the day.
The Farm Aid “Hi-Fi Experience” offers guests access to the best seats at the festival and to the Hi-Fi Lounge at the venue’s Indoor Club. A very limited number of seats remaining in the program have recently been released. If you’d like to inquire about their availability, please contact hifi@farmaid.org.
The Farm Aid 40 Memorabilia Auction goes live on the day of the festival at farmaid.org/auction. This collection of rare, unique and signed memorabilia items will be open for bidding on the Farm Aid website through Friday, October 3. Proceeds raise critical funds to support Farm Aid’s work.
Sponsors of Farm Aid 40 include McKnight Foundation, Tractor Beverage Co., Explore Minnesota, Horizon Organic, 11th Hour Project, Huntington Bank, Seven Sundays, REI Co-op, Frontier Co-op, Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
For festival and 40th anniversary updates, follow Farm Aid on Facebook (facebook.com/farmaid), Instagram (instagram.com/farmaid), X (@FarmAid), Bluesky (@farmaid.org) and Threads (threads.com/@farmaid). Festivalgoers are encouraged to use the hashtags #FarmAid40 and #Road2FarmAid40 to join the conversation on social media.
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.
— 30 —
**Editors, Producers and Photographers Note: Advance credentials are required for all media to attend Farm Aid 40. Please visit farmaid.org/media to learn about these requirements and apply. Media can download official Farm Aid photos and videos at farmaid.org/media.
