Hearing the Winds of Change: State Legislators Bring Farm Aid Home
By: Eme Crawford, SiX Senior Director, Communications
“Farmers are the first to hear the winds of change.” -Neil Young, Farm Aid Co-Founder
My dad is a man of few words. In family lore, this fourth-generation farmer had to sell the family farm in the 80s because, with two small children and with the lean years outnumbering the profitable years, it made sense for the family.
I also imagine that my dad, attuned to the land and armed with ancestral knowledge, sensed a larger wind of change on the horizon: the farm crisis of the 1980s.
From this farm crisis emerged Farm Aid, and ever since 1985 Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and their musical band of brothers and sisters have raised more than $90 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.
SiX brought 14 state legislators from our Cohort for Rural Opportunity and Prosperity (CROP) to Farm Aid this year to address today’s winds of change: corporate consolidation, pesticide immunity bills, and data centers competing for land and water.
CROP is the country’s only cross-state cohort of legislators dedicated to progressive agriculture, rural, environment, and food policy.
Front row (L-R): Geran Tarr; David Senter; Eme Crawford; Iowa Representative Elinor Levin; Kenneth Palmer; Siena Chrisman; Kendra Kimbirauskas; Anna Orcutt-Jahns.
Middle row (L-R): Hannah Highfill; Mike Rice; Tennessee Representative Justin Jones; Wisconsin Representative Karen DeSanto; Pennsylvania Representative Emily Kinkead; Illinois Representative Sonya Harper; Iowa Representative Megan Srinivas; Minnesota Representative Kristi Pursell.
Back row (L-R): Farm Aid advocate; Pennsylvania Representative Justin Fleming; Iowa Representative JD Scholten; Wisconsin Representative Vincent Miresse.
While at Farm Aid, legislators shared their legislative victories like defeating pesticide immunity bills backed by corporate ag, supporting family farms, and building urban-rural relationships to support our land, ag economy, and food access. Legislators from the Midwest used their time together to strategize for the 2027 legislative session. And ALL of the legislators spoke with and listened to farmers, advocates, organizers, and historians to learn from those best suited to hear the winds of change.
CROP members know that when farmers and rural communities help shape the rules that govern their own livelihoods, we get better, fairer policy for them and for everyone who eats.
Farmers like Michael Carter, Jr. shared the stage with Farm Aid musicians and offered this advice about everyday people reclaiming their power: “It’s about reestablishing what’s important to us… I’ve lived in a time before data centers and cell phones. I lived ok. I’ve never intentionally lived without food…and we’re putting more emphasis on our data infrastructure than our food infrastructure.”
CROP legislators join Farm Aid advocates for Of the Water Farm Tour. Photo by Scott Streble.
CROP member North Carolina Represenative Eric Ager shared his story of Hurrican Helene and community resiliance at Farm Aid's story slam.
SiX's Kenneth Palmer (right) joined Eowyn Corral (left) from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Cristina Sandolo from Farm Aid who helped organize the panel (middle), and David Senter from American Agriculture Movement (not pictured) at the Farmer Forum presenting on the "Holding Ground against Corporate Farming and Land Grabs" panel.
The weekend wrapped up at the festival itself where the artists on stage made sure everyone knows who the real rockstars are — the farmers, the food and farmworker advocates, and the rural communities doing the work every day to keep us fed.
As the music played, CROP members strolled through the Homegrown Village and spoke with cotton farmers who started a co-op, interacted with advocates at the “Down the Big Ag Clown” game, and swapped seeds in defiance of multinational corporations who manage nearly all production and distribution, leaving farmers few options for who they buy from or which varieties they plant.
In between music sets, Illinois Representative Sonya Harper, Minnesota Representative Kristi Pursell, and SiX’s Senior Director of Food, Agriculture & Rural Economies Kendra Kimbirauskas talked with Sirius XM about how they bring Farm Aid back to their statehouses and the policies they pass that support farmers and rural communities.
CROP members prepare for their interview! L-R: Minnesota Representative Kristi Pursell; SiX's Kendra Kimbirauskas; and Illinois Representative Sonya Harper.
SiX CROP members were joined by musician Jesse Welles for their interview!
L-R: Minnesota Representative Kristi Pursell, Illinois Representative Sonya Harper, Farm Aid musician Jesse Welles, and SiX Senior Director of Food, Agriculture & Rural Economies Kenendra Kimbirauskas.
CROP legislators will carry the stories and lessons from Farm Aid with them into the next legislative session and to SiX’s State Action Summit, December 1-3 in Tempe, Arizona where legislators will continue learning, strategizing and wielding power in sessions like “Own the Rural Agenda,” “From Data Centers to Pesticides,” and much more!
My dad heard the wind coming in the '80s and had to make a hard choice alone. CROP legislators are making sure today's farmers don't have to. Join us at SiX’s Summit and help support farmers and rural communities facing to the winds of change!
