Willie Nelson; John Mellencamp; Neil Young.Photo:Lester Cohen/WireImage, Jim Spellman/WireImage, Chelsea Lauren/WireImage
Lester Cohen/WireImage, Jim Spellman/WireImage, Chelsea Lauren/WireImage
Farm Aid is back for another year of fundraising for family farmers.
Willie Nelson,John Mellencamp,Neil Young,Dave MatthewsandMargo Priceare all set to headline Farm Aid 2023, which will take place on Sept. 23 at Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana.
“Family farmers have the solutions to some of our toughest challenges,” Nelson, Farm Aid president and founder, said in a statement. “As we face a changing climate, farmers in Indiana, across the Midwest and all over the country are farming in ways that create more resilient farms to build healthy soils and protect our water.”
Neil Young, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp at Farm Aid in 1985.Bettmann Archive
This year will mark the third Farm Aid in Indiana, Mellencamp’s home state and the country’s eighth-largest farming state. The Hoosier State has been experiencing the effects of climate change in recent years, and has the most polluted rivers and streams of any state thanks in part to manure run-off from large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations, according to a press release.
The “Jack and Diane” singer opened up about his work with Farm Aid in an interview with PEOPLE last year, and expressed disdain for large farming corporations filling grocery store shelves with “s—.”
“It’s nice to give back, there’s nothing like it. But the reason I got involved in it was because the government does not care about the small family farmer, nor do they care about me or you. There’s a big club, and you and I aren’t in it,” he said. “Farm Aid is really good at helping the small farmer, but all the laws and regulations and embargoes are not for the small American farmer, they’re for corporate America, they’re for corporate farmers. And corporate farming, they don’t give a f—. They’re putting chemicals in our food, hormones on chickens, you name it.”
In a statement that accompanied the festival announcement, Mellencamp said he was “honored and excited” for Farm Aid to return to Indiana.
“My home state holds deep meaning for me and for the generations of family farmers who have dedicated their lives to caring for the Earth and bringing us good food,” he said.
Tickets will range from $75 to $315, and will be available for purchase at LiveNation.com on July 15 at 10 a.m. ET.
source: people.com
