Farm Aid is turning 40 this year, and it’s coming back in a big way. The long-running benefit concert founded by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp will take place in Minneapolis in 2025, bringing with it a powerful message of solidarity with America’s family farmers.
This year’s lineup is stacked, with co-founders Young and Mellencamp confirmed to join Nelson on stage. Other artists set to perform include Dave Matthews, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton (of Black Pumas), Jesse Welles, and Madeline Edwards.
“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,” Nelson said in a statement on the festival’s website. “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.”
The origins of Farm Aid are as unexpected as they are iconic. The seeds were planted during Live Aid in 1985, when Bob Dylan suggested that some of the money raised be used to help struggling American farmers pay their mortgages. While his comment drew criticism at the time, it struck a chord with Nelson, Young, and Mellencamp, who quickly mobilized to launch the first Farm Aid concert just months later. That inaugural show raised $9 million and featured legends like Billy Joel, BB King, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Dylan himself.
Since then, Farm Aid has become an annual tradition, moving from city to city while continuing to spotlight the challenges—and resilience—of family farmers.
“We’re fighting for our lives,” Neil Young said at last year’s press conference. “Remember that we’re causing this [climate change]. Every day we have an opportunity to be more together than we were yesterday.”
With its 40th anniversary approaching, Farm Aid 2025 isn’t just another concert—it’s a reminder of the ongoing fight for sustainable agriculture and the family farmers at its heart. Minneapolis better get ready for a show with soul, history, and purpose.