Corporate farming operations keep expanding by absorbing the farms around them, and farm advocate Benny Bunting knows exactly what that means for families trying to pass land to the next generation. When there's no more land available, the family farm has nowhere to go.
The festival is Farm Aid's most visible moment, but Oregon farmer and advocate Kendra Kimbirauskas wants people to know what's happening the other 364 days. Crisis response, ongoing grants to farm advocates, support for community organizations doing unglamorous but critical work with farm families:
Watch Margo Price's performance at Farm Aid's 40th anniversary festival on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/play...
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Margo Price performing at Farm Aid
Join us in wishing Farm Aid board artist Margo Price a very happy birthday!
Photo © Brian Bruner / Bruner Photo
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For generations, USDA has shut out Black farmers from funding and programs. Now, it's cut the ILCMAP program that meant to help underserved farmers--all part of the Trump Admin's crusade against what it calls "DEI."
From @capitalb.bsky.social: capitalbnews.org/usda-ends-30...
These impacts combined with decades of agriculture policy that favors large-scale, industrial operations and corporations, are bringing many farmers, and the rural communities they support, to a breaking point.
Learn more and find the latest updates on the Farm Crisis:
And while these conditions alone are difficult enough to navigate, additional challenges have only increased uncertainty for U.S. farmers. Farmers have been hit from every direction: seesawing tariffs, damaging trade policies, inflation and drastic cuts to federal farm programs.
U.S. farmers have recently faced consecutive years of high input costs and low commodity prices, decreasing the already small margins that many operations get by on.
Here is my new article. Programs promoting sustainability are being cut while we see huge crop insurance subsidy increases, paid by taxpayers directly to insurers.
Things are hard right now and farm advocate Willie Booker isn't going to pretend otherwise. But he's not giving up either. Working together, advocating for one another, sharing knowledge; that's how farmers have always gotten through difficult times and this time won't be any different.
As Shantell Bingham of the Food Justice Network sees it, Farm Aid is one of the only institutions still consistently investing in farmers, their advocates, and the local food infrastructure that communities depend on.
Even though the surge has been declared over, ICE continues to have a deep and chilling impact on farmers and rural communities across the state. We hope you'll read and share.
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Farmers and farm groups in Minnesota have asked folks to lift up stories like this about how the surge of immigration enforcement in Minnesota was never confined to the Twin Cities.
prospect.org/2026/03...
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And we're proud to see friend and partner Craig Watts in this related profile from @insideclimatenews.org
insideclimatenews.org/news/0304202...
Thinking About a Contract? For Potential Contract Growers Big meat corporations routinely exploit contract growers. Learn why the industry's unfair contracts are a bad deal for you and your business. Featured image for "Home" Significant Risks Contract growing requires you to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to build barns and other infrastructure that can't easily be used for anything else. If you lose the contract, you're saddled with massive debt and no clear way to repay it. Better Farming Solutions Many contract growers finance their operation using generational farmland and family homes as collateral. If the company terminates your contract, then you're at risk of losing your home and your farm. Imbalance of Power Grower contracts are written by the company, to protect the company. There is no good-faith bargaining; it's a "take it or leave it" agreement, legally called a "contract of adhesion."
We're glad to see this new resource for people who are, or are considering becoming, a contract grower in the poultry industry.
growersunite.org/
And to learn more about the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network and access its training resources, visit farmaid.org/DBAN
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Background In 2024, Farm Aid launched the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network (DBAN), a $4.2 million national initiative funded through a Cooperative Agreement with USDA/FSA, to build the capacity of farm support organizations to provide one-on-one technical assistance to financially distressed farmers and ranchers. Farm Aid leads DBAN in partnership with the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) and the Farmers' Legal Action Group (FLAG), and the initiative now operates through a network of 30 to 40 partner organizations and more than 150 practitioners nationwide. Job Overview The Project Administrator will serve as the financial and compliance backbone of the project. This role owns the administrative infrastructure that keeps a complex, federally funded initiative running, inclusive of managing budgets and contracts, ensuring documentation and reporting are airtight, and keeping the project's day-to-day operations on track. This is a hands-on, detail-oriented role
Farm Aid is hiring!
We're seeking a Project Administrator for our Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network (DBAN) initiative for an immediate hire through the length of the grant award, December 2027.
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It comes down to two things: land and financing. Farm advocate Benny Bunting breaks down why banks find it easier to cut one deal with a large operator than to work with ten family farms, and what gets lost from communities when that human side of agriculture disappears.
"Cancelling mid-project doesn’t save money, it wastes everything that came before and puts our entire future in jeopardy,” writes Amanda Koehler, farmer and manager of the Land, Capital, and Market Access Network, in an op-ed.
“Before the war began, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected consumers would see food prices jump only about 3% in 2026. But a report from the agency in March predicts that food prices could increase as much as 6.1% this year.”
"Failing to implement this program is only creating more hardship and uncertainty for farmers and rural small businesses."
– Matt Ohloff, ELPC policy advocate
Farmworkers in a field in Georgia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmworkers_in_the_United_States#/media/File:20190507-OSEC-LSC-0955.jpg
Today is FarmworkersDay, honoring the farmworkers whose work to put food on our tables often goes unseen. Farm Aid stands with them today and always. #FarmWorkersDay
So many factors influencing the farm economy right now. Rising fertilizer prices affect corn. Export market uncertainty (China) affect soybeans. High costs tied to the war and tariffs. Distrust of #USDA data due to major staff cutbacks. No #FarmBill in sight.
Farm Aid was unique in uniting country music and rock and roll on one stage—a phenomenon that now seems commonplace. Paul Corbin, of TNN, said in an interview with The New York Times: "I don't think there has ever been such a large number of country and rock acts coming together."
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American Currents logo
(From left to right) Back row: Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton of Muscadine Bloodline; Vince Gill; Bailey Zimmerman; BigXthaPlug; Charlie Handsome and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young. Middle row: Barry Bales; Jerry Douglas and Alison Krauss of Alison Krauss and Union Station; Shorlette Ammons representing Farm Aid; Sarah Jarosz of I'm With Her and Brandon Lake. Front row: Michael Cleveland and Jason Carter; Stephen Wilson Jr.; Carter Faith; Georgette Jones representing Tammy Wynette; Kaitlin Butts and Dan Rogers of the Grand Ole Opry. (Photo by: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)
Farm Aid stage in 1985
Two people watching Lukas Nelson perform on a video screen
With Willie Nelson as founder, Farm Aid's roots have always been in the soil of country music. Earlier this month, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum recognized this connection in the opening of their new exhibit in Nashville, American Currents: State of the Music.
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"American farmers may have to make hard choices at planting time. Corn, for instance, needs a lot of nitrogen to thrive. Soybeans need less, so U.S. farmers may grow less corn and more soybeans. Farmers who can't source fertilizer may even skip a year."
www.npr.org/2026/03/26/g...
Attention next-gen and beginning farmers!
FarmPath is a national, 3-year program designed to support aspiring and beginning farmers as they explore, plan, and build viable and sustainable farm businesses.
Deadline: March 31 @ 5pm CST
🔗: www.cognitoforms.com/FarmFoundation/FarmPathApplication2026
