Against the Grain: The Farm Aid Podcast

In Part 2 of this special two-part episode of "Against the Grain," we take you back to Chillicothe, Missouri to mark the 40th anniversary of the longest sustained farmer protest in American history.  Starting in March of 1986, farmers and movement allies blockaded the Farmers Home Administration office in Chillicothe for 145 days. Organized in large part by the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, the blockade brought together a multiracial working class coalition of civil rights, labor, and farm activists. Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid's first executive director, got involved from the start and recruited Farm Aid founder John Mellencamp to join the blockade.  Other national figures like the Rev. Jesse Jackson also came to Chillicothe. This episode includes interviews with John Mellencamp, MRCC organizers Roger Allison and Rhonda Perry, as well as Farm Aid's Carolyn Mugar. It also features archival sound from Jesse Jackson's appearance and John Mellencamp's performance at the blockade before 10,000 people in the FmHA parking lot, where he used a flatbed truck for a stage. As we stare down another farm crisis, the story of Chillicothe reminds us that we've been here before, fought back - and won!

In Part I of this special two-part episode of "Against the Grain," we take you back to Chillicothe, Missouri to mark the 40th anniversary of the longest sustained farmer protest in American history.  Starting in March of 1986, farmers and movement allies blockaded the Farmers Home Administration office in Chillicothe for 145 days. Organized in large part by the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, the blockade brought together a multiracial working class coalition of civil rights, labor, and farm activists. Carolyn Mugar, Farm Aid's first executive director, got involved from the start and recruited Farm Aid founder John Mellencamp to join the blockade.  Other national figures like the Rev. Jesse Jackson also came to Chillicothe. This episode includes interviews with John Mellencamp, MRCC organizers Roger Allison and Rhonda Perry, as well as Farm Aid's Carolyn Mugar. It also features archival sound from Jesse Jackson's appearance and John Mellencamp's performance at the blockade before 10,000 people in the FmHA parking lot, where he used a flatbed truck for a stage. As we stare down another farm crisis, the story of Chillicothe reminds us that we've been here before, fought back - and won!

In this episode, we take you back to Farm Aid 40, where we recorded a panel discussion on the FarmYard Stage. Our guests include farmer Amanda Koehler, activist Lisa Bellanger and Farm Aid artist Madeline Edwards. Although we could not have anticipated the shocking events that occurred in the Twin Cities just a few months after this panel, the administration's earlier disruptions to the farm and food system informed our discussion. Tune in to hear about the challenges faced by new farmers and emerging artists—and the hopes that keep them moving forward.

Live from Farm Aid 40: Policymakers talk about the current farm crisisIn this episode, we take you back to Farm Aid 40 in Minneapolis, where we spoke to some of the state's leading policymakers about issues facing farmers in the current crisis and about how to get a Farm Bill passed. Our colleague, Hannah Tremblay, Farm Aid's Policy and Advocacy Manager, helps frame our conversation by discussing the state of the Farm Bill and what's happening in farm country right now.  We then talk to Congresswoman Angie Craig, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Governor Tim Walz, who shouts out Farm Aid founder John Mellencamp!

In this final episode of Against the Grain's Artists & Activism series, we take you back to Luck Reunion where we recorded a panel conversation in front of a live audience. This panel had four artists who lived through various climate disasters and have been working to sustain their communities in the aftermath. Listen in as we talk to Farm Aid board artist Margo Price, JJ Tourville, Matthew Logan Vasquez and Tommy Newport, followed by a brilliant question and answer session with the audience.Join us for Farm Aid’s annual festival on Saturday, September 20th, at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota! This all-day celebration of music and farmers features a unique lineup of artists and genres, along with delicious, family farm foods in our HOMEGROWN Concessions. Celebrate Farm Aid’s 40 years of standing with family farmers in person or grab a Watch Party Kit for that festival feel at home!Go to www.farmaid.org/podcast  for details

In this penultimate episode of Against the Grain's series on Artists and Activism, we get personal - as in "the personal is political."  We talk to Waylon Payne, Allison Russell and Hunter Park (who performs as She Returns from War) about how their personal lives (and, really, all of our personal lives) are political and politicized, even if we're not the ones framing them that way. For Waylon, Allison and Hunter, "the personal is political" has led each to seek their own "chosen family" and chosen community, a place where they are loved and supported, included and treated with respect. We're joined by Steve Duncombe, from the Center for Artistic Activism, for context on how artists telling their true experiences can be a powerful vehicle for political expression and engagement.Farm Aid 40 will reunite family farmers and musician activists in Minneapolis on September 20th, with performances by Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (with Tim Reynolds), Margo Price, 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.  Join us in Minneapolis to celebrate 40 years of Farm Aid!For tickets and details ---> www.farmaid.org/podcast

In this episode of Against the Grain’s series on artists & activism, we talk to Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson and Allison Russell about their experiences with climate change at home and on the road, and what artists — and all of us — can do about it.For 40 years, Farm Aid has stood with family farmers against corporate power, bad policies and climate disasters. As Farm Aid Founder and President Willie Nelson says: “Family farmers aren’t backing down, and neither are we.”Join us for Farm Aid’s annual festival on Saturday, September 20th , at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota! This all-day celebration of music and farmers features a unique lineup of artists and genres, along with delicious, family farm foods in our HOMEGROWN Concessions. Join us to celebrate Farm Aid’s 40 years of standing with family farmers! Festival and ticket info at: www.farmaid.org/podcast

In this episode of Against the Grain's series on artists and activism, we zero in on artists catching flak for taking a public stand. We'll hear from Allison Russell, Grace Bowers, Emily Nenni and Dylan LeBlanc. Taylor Swift gets a special mention, and not just for the title of the episode!Farm Aid 40 will be at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, September 20th. Tickets are still available! farmaid.org/podcast/ for details

In this third episode of Against the Grain's series on Artists and Activism, we talk to artists who come from farming backgrounds and have joined Farm Aid over the years to stand up for family farmers. We hear first from the legendary bluesman, Taj Mahal, who grew up picking tobacco and working on a dairy farm in Massachusetts before studying animal husbandry and agronomy in college. Like Taj, the other artists we talked to for this episode - Cassandra Lewis, Waylon Payne and Charley Crockett - see their musical lives deeply intertwined with their love of the land and commitment to showing up for family farmers.

In this 2nd episode of Against the Grain's series on Artists and Activism, we talk to artists using their storytelling skills and platforms to engage with important social and political issues. You'll hear from Farm Aid board artist Margo Price, Kyshona and Tami Neilson; as well as Steve Duncombe, co-founder of the Center for Artistic Activism. 

In this first episode of Against the Grain's new series, Artists and Activism, we focus on the American folk music tradition. Music journalist Dorian Lynskey provides valuable historical context. He reminds us that music and politics have mixed from the beginning - even before the dawn of recorded sound - but that its folk musicians who popularized activist song and the trend of showing up in solidarity with those fighting oppression. We talk to folk musicians Steve Earle, Rainbow Girls, Tré Burt and Jesse Welles about activism in their music and how they use their music in their activism, as well as how they navigate the inevitable pushback that follows. Remember The Chicks being told to "shut up and sing!" following a statement about President George W. Bush and the Iraq War? We talk about that, too!

Against the Grain is the Farm Aid podcast, designed to bring the magic of Farm Aid’s annual festival to listeners year-round. This season, in our series Artists and Activism, we'll talk to more than two dozen artists who are using their art and their voices as vehicles for political engagement and expression on issues that matter to them - and to all of us.

Against the Grain is heading back to the Luck Reunion festival, held on Farm Aid president Willie Nelson's ranch outside of Austin, Texas. The night before the festival, the Luck Family Foundation puts on a PotLuck dinner, bringing chefs from across the country to prepare a regionally-sourced meal that is cooked over an open fire. Proceeds from this dinner benefit Farm Aid and the Texas Food and Wine Alliance. In past podcast episodes, we featured interviews with chefs we met there last year - folks like Rick Bayless, Bleu Adams and Michel Nischan. In this episode, we highlight some of the other chefs we spoke with last year and focus especially on how their work with local farmers builds what Farm Aid calls The Good Food Movement. Check it out!

In this episode of Against the Grain, join us backstage at Farm Aid 2024 in Saratoga Springs, New York, for an interview with Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones. Farm Aid Board Artist Margo Price invited Representative Jones to join us in Saratoga Springs, and we caught up with him after he and Margo returned from a panel in the HOMEGROWN Village.You may know Representative Jones already. He's one of the two Tennessee state representatives expelled from the House during a debate over public safety in the wake of a horrific school shooting in Nashville. In a special election, Jones and his colleague Justin Pearson were quickly returned to their seats in the House. We were excited to talk to Jones because, as he tells it, he was put on the House Agriculture Committee as a punishment. Justin illustrates how bipartisan work is possible when issues are humanized and how food and agriculture are some of the issues that transcend usual divisions in the legislature.

In this special episode of Against the Grain, we dig into our recently digitized archives to highlight Farm Aid's awe-inspiring founder and president, Willie Nelson. You may remember that we discussed how the first Farm Aid concert came together in the first episode of the podcast, but in this episode, we highlight the range of work Willie has done for the family farm movement outside of the annual festival. Year-in and year-out, for forty years, Willie has shown up to work shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers and ranchers whenever they've needed him. For this episode, we unearthed some archival audio of Willie joining a haylift in 1996, helping to distribute hay shipped by farmers in South Carolina to ranchers in Texas who, faced with a prolonged drought, couldn't grow enough of their own hay for their cattle. Listen in as Willie greets the trucks, donated and driven by Teamsters Union drivers, and then goes out to Travis county ranches to distribute the hay. Willie may be in his 90s now, but he continues to stand alongside farmers fighting for a more just food and farm system.

In this episode of Against the Grain, we take you to the FarmYard Stage at Farm Aid 2024 in Saratoga Springs, New York. There we made our first recording of an Against the Grain episode in front of a live audience, under the big tent out in Farm Aid's HOMEGROWN Village. Every year at Farm Aid, farmers and artists come together on the FarmYard Stage to talk about pressing farm and food issues. The Against the Grain panel discussion featured two rockstar farmers, Hope LaBonty of Loving Earth Compost and Elizabeth Ryan of Breezy Hill Orchards, along with bona fide rockstar and frequent Farm Aid artist Nathaniel Rateliff. Listen in as Hope and Liz talk about the soil - how composting all of the food waste from an event like Farm Aid generates new soil - and how farmers, organizers and the public can come together to make composting happen on a scale that is transformative. You'll also hear Nathaniel talk not only about the platform that artists have to support farmers like Liz and Hope, but also about how music and food bring people together, transcending political division.  For many Farm Aid artists, participating in a FarmYard Stage discussion is one of their favorite festival experiences.

In the midst of this election season, the shocking devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton seemed to get attention from the candidates only briefly. Media coverage, meanwhile, has tended to focus on the bigger population centers, while the destruction to family farms and the food systems of which they are a part is barely mentioned. And yet, according to USDA estimates, crop losses alone could trigger seven billion dollars in insurance payouts, while the Associated Press reports damage to property could be as high as 26 billion dollars. At Farm Aid, our hotline operators hear from farmers in the wake of these climate disasters regularly. Nearly 40 years ago, when Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp started Farm Aid to respond to the family farm crisis, millions of Americans called 1-800-FARM-AID to donate to the cause; today, however, the phone number serves as a hotline that farmers call to get support across a range of issues, including disaster relief. In this episode, we talk to two of Farm Aid's hotline operators Lori Mercer and Tony Glover to learn what they are hearing from farmers in the Southeast in the wake of these hurricanes. We will hear about the resources available to farmers in these circumstances and how we can all help by contributing to the Family Farm Disaster Fund.

On this episode of Against the Grain, we’re bringing you as close as possible to an actual taste of the Farm Aid festival... We're talking about the mind-blowing, family farm food that festivalgoers eat each year at Farm Aid! Our guests are Farm Aid's Associate Director, Glenda Yoder and our Culinary Director, Sonya Dagovitz who, together, established HOMEGROWN Concessions® in 2007. As Farm Aid moves around the country every year, they swap out the food normally served at the venue for food sourced from family farmers who follow specific ecological standards and who get paid a fair price. The food is the best food you'll ever get at a live event, and it's changing the concert industry. Hear from Farm Aid board artist Dave Matthews on HOMEGROWN Concessions® too! We also talk to Chef Michel Nischan of Wholesome Wave who, with former USDA undersecretary Gus Schumacher, pioneered using food stamps (now called SNAP benefits) to buy family farm fruits and vegetables - proving that all Americans, regardless of income level, want good quality food. In this episode, farmers and eaters unite!

As we heard throughout the first season of Against the Grain, American farmers have historically struggled to get the United States Department of Agriculture to listen to, and address their most pressing concerns. That was certainly true when Farm Aid was founded in the midst of the 1980s farm crisis when farmers were pushed off their land due to loan foreclosures. We've also heard that there's a range of reasons why farmers - particularly farmers of color and Tribal producers - feel a sense of distrust towards the USDA. But the USDA recently announced major rule changes that affect farmers' access to and delivery of farm loans. In this bonus episode of Against the Grain, Farm Aid's Communications Director, Jennifer Fahy explains the significance of this rule change. We also hear from Zach Ducheneaux, the USDA's Farm Service Agency's (FSA) administrator, who is perhaps the person most responsible for this sea change in USDA policy.

Food desert is a term that is used in reference to the absence of good quality, nutritious food in a particular geographic area. But as Chef Bleu Adams of Indigehub says in this episode of Against the Grain, a more appropriate term is "food apartheid" because there's nothing natural about the absence of good food for Native Americans. For Tribal producers and eaters, the legacy of colonization and land theft carries on in the structures of food apartheid on what is, ostensibly, tribal land. As Kari Jo Lawrence and Abi Fain of the Intertribal Agriculture Council tell us, a variety of forces - from infrastructure to bureaucracy to lack of credit to land and soil issues - make it difficult for tribal communities to produce and distribute their own food. But people like Kari Jo, Abi, and Bleu work tirelessly to find solutions. Listen to this episode to find out more.

As Farm Aid artist Micah Nelson says, "the soil is the most fundamental source of life." When Micah and his family were riding out the pandemic at their ranch in Luck, Texas, they decided to start growing their own food. But as anyone who lives in Texas Hill Country can tell you, it is rough, rugged terrain, frequently distinguished by densely packed, seemingly inhospitable earth. Fortunately, Micah's mother, Farm Aid board member Annie Nelson, encountered Tina and Orion Weldon at the farmers market they launched in Spicewood, TX, and invited them to collaborate. In this episode of Against the Grain, we hear the story of how the Nelsons and the Weldons joined forces to regenerate and rejuvenate that Texas soil. Using the principles of regenerative agriculture they're bringing back grassland species, which are the foundation of a healthy, vibrant food economy. This form of farming is a viable alternative to the prevailing system of industrial agriculture. Learn why this is and how you can take action by demanding that your Congressional representatives include support for climate-friendly farming in the upcoming Farm Bill.

We just got back from Luck Reunion, a music festival held on Farm Aid president Willie Nelson's ranch every March.  There, we got to interview a lot of artists, farmers, and chefs.  In this special bonus episode, you'll hear from superstar chef Rick Bayless, who traveled to Luck from Chicago.  Rick recounts how, years ago, when he lived in Mexico, he noticed that no matter where he traveled, if folks had a really strong local agricultural economy, the food in the restaurants and in people's homes just tasted better.  In this episode, Rick talks about how over the last 37 years, his Frontera Farmer Foundation has invested $3.5 million in the Chicago’s local agricultural economy. Take a quick listen - you won't want to miss it!  For more on Rick Bayless, Luck Reunion, and Farm Aid go to www.farmaid.com/podcast 

How do farmers lose land? As Kenya Crumel of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance says, it's not like losing a set of keys: "Nobody's just accidentally losing land." Rather, she explains land has been taken – specifically from Black farmers – through a variety of means over the last century. The decline is staggering! In the 1920s Black farmers held somewhere between 15 and 19 million acres of land and represented 14% of all American farmers. Today, Black farmers represent 1% of all American farmers and own as little as 2 million acres of land. In this episode of Against the Grain, we hear from Kenya, Shirley Sherrod of the Southwest Georgia Project, and from Farm Aid artist Kyshona, about their experiences with land, legacy and farming. You'll learn how farmers and organizers are fighting back to both defend and reclaim farmland and, of course, you'll enjoy some musical performances from the Farm Aid archives.

We know some of you may be traveling in the next week or two, so we created this bonus episode as our holiday gift to you. In this episode we’ll highlight one of our Farm Aid board members, the legendary Neil Young. Enjoy and happy holidays from Against the Grain and Farm Aid. Learn more at https://www.farmaid.org/blog/neil-young-truth-to-power/

As Farm Aid board artist Dave Matthews says, “the vast majority of people are good, the vast majority of people are community driven and want to take care of each other,” and understanding that fact can motivate us to change the farm and food systems that prioritize corporate profits over communities. In this second episode of Against the Grain, called “Hoodwinked,” you’ll hear from artists Dave Matthews and Allison Russell, former contract poultry farmer and whistleblower Craig Watts, and organizer Tim Gibbons about the scourge of industrial agriculture that has come to dominate our farm and food systems in recent decades. They’ll explain how this system evolved and propose solutions for how to get out of it. And, of course, you’ll hear some great music from past Farm Aid festivals along the way. Learn more at www.farmaid.org/podcast

 As Farm Aid’s Executive Director, Carolyn Mugar says, “Music opens you up … you hear what's happening and you can take it in.” In this first episode of Against the Grain called, “There’s Something About Music,” you’ll hear from Margo Price, David Senter, and Carolyn Mugar about the power of music as a vehicle for social change. They’ll also regale you with stories — including archival sound from Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan — about the origins of Farm Aid. Learn more at: www.farmaid.org/podcast

A sneak peek at what's ahead on Against the Grain!