Introduction

The very first Farm Aid festival was staged on September 22, 1985, in Champaign at Memorial Stadium.  The concert aimed to highlight the challenges faced by small, family-owned farms, which were competing at the time with an expansive and increasingly corporate agricultural economy and droughts. 

Clocking in at 14 hours long, with an attending crowd of over 80,000 people (and even more tuning in through radio and television), the concert brought in over $9 million in aid through donations and sales. However, its lasting impact on the United States was primarily cultural rather than financial or political. Farm Aid’s tagline, “Keep America Growing” was a rallying cry for lead organizer Willie Nelson, who to this day continues to advance the humanitarian agenda of the festival, now 38 years later, as the longest-running benefit concert series.