It was four decades ago that Bob Dylan took the stage and mused about the need to support American farmers.
“I hope that some of the money that’s raised for the people in Africa,” he said during a performance at Live Aid, the 1985 benefit concert to raise relief funds for famine in Ethiopia, “maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe 1 or 2 million, maybe, and use it … to pay the mortgages on some of the farms that the farmers here owe to the banks.”
It was only fitting, then, that Dylan, a Minnesota native, headlined Saturday's 40th edition of Farm Aid, held this year at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Dylan joined a lineup of music legends, including Willie Nelson, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, Margo Price and Dave Matthews, among others. Nelson, Young and Mellencamp organized the first edition of Farm Aid in 1985.
The annual benefit raises money and awareness for noncorporate farmers, highlighting the ongoing challenges they face. This year, those challenges include funding freezes and tariffs that could cripple businesses and create long-lasting damage in the U.S. agriculture industry.
Here are some photos from the concert.
