Farm Aid to mark 25th anniversary at Miller Park

The press conference, which will reveal the venue, performers and ticket information, will be presented during a live Webcast at farmaid.org/25.

The Brewers will be closing out their season in Cincinnati during the weekend that the concert takes place. The team, which has hosted concerts at Miller Park in the past, has been looking to boost revenues with non-baseball events.

Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $37 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.

Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on Sept. 22, 1985, in Champaign, Ill., to raise money for family farmers in the United States. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan's comments at Live Aid earlier in that year.

Dylan famously said, "I hope that some of the money ... maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe ... one or two million, maybe ... and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks."

Nelson and Mellencamp then brought family farmers before Congress to testify about the state of family farming in America. Congress subsequently passed the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to help save family farms from foreclosure.

Nelson, Mellencamp and Young are on the board of directors, along with Dave Matthews. Kenny Chesney also has been involved in recent years.

9 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by zappa on July 30, 2010 at 3:33 p.m. (report)

the platypus is your friend brewcitypaul. look it up. wave bye bye to $9.50 beers.

Posted by sheabee on July 30, 2010 at 12:49 p.m. (report)

would be awesome at alpine....but miller park will be fun too. i'm soooo excited. dave matthews better be playing. he's off his tour on this date.

Posted by brewcitypaul on July 30, 2010 at 11:45 a.m. (report)

I went to FarmAid in 2001 at Deer Creek and had a great time. Looks like I won't be forking over $200 for Neil tix tonight so hopefully he will be at this show as well. Coming from a guy who was at Alpine last weekend, I am very glad this is not. I can cab it from downtown to the stadium and back home after the show, so much more convenient plus I won't be spending $9.50 for Budweiser, blecccch. Great idea by Miller Park, would love to see more concerts held at the stadium in the future.

Posted by mkeforlife on July 30, 2010 at 11:29 a.m. (report)

This is great. I went in '98 and loved it. I think MKE will be an awesome host. Miller Park will probably work, although I agree that Alpine would have been better.

Posted by zappa on July 30, 2010 at 11:17 a.m. (report)

or gets cold. this should be held at alpine.

Show me the other 4 Talkbacks