00:00thousands of people in minneapolis for the food and music festival farm aid this year marks the
00:0640th annual farm aid that raises money for farmers and agricultural initiatives here in the u.s big
00:12names include bob dylan willie nelson dave matthews and john mellencamp all of them set to perform
00:18later today right there in minneapolis cnn's bill weir is joining us live right now and i think
00:24some of the performances are getting started bill tell us about the evolution of this event how did
00:29it start and how did it ultimately become what it is today well isabel it is a bloody merry morning
00:36in minneapolis it all came to be thanks to willie uh you know the most maybe the most beloved liberal
00:42in america who was watching live aid on his tour bus in texas in 1985 and heard bob dylan take the
00:49stage with a couple of rolling stones and just an offhand comment said i wonder if we could save a
00:53couple million dollars for the farmers who are losing their farms to big banks in 1985 there was
00:59a massive farm crisis uh you had to get bigger or go out of business a lot of farms invested in
01:05equipment crop prices crashed there were suicides setting records and so a parade of hall of famers
01:11came to illinois back then 40 years ago to raise money for farmers they raised about the equivalent of
01:1620 million dollars that day and today the ogs of willie nelson and neil young and john mellencamp
01:23are here as well as dave matthews who joined the board a little later on margo price is a new member
01:28of that board we just heard jesse wells who has been compared to bob dylan a young guy who went viral
01:34on instagram for his protest songs he just did a number one of the lyrics was who knew the deep state
01:39included national park rangers so some political you know pointed political commentary that's going to
01:45happen certainly when neil young comes on later today but it's it's nice to see an outpouring
01:50of family farmers not just in the heartland on both coasts and folks who also not have to worry about
01:56not just debt but uh immigration raids and tariff wars and the ravages of climate change which make
02:03it harder to predict your your season than there but amazing to see these families and and those who
02:08love them coming together uh listen to a little great music and spread some brotherhood and awareness
02:15you mentioned this farm crisis back in 1985 what has changed in this industry of farming
02:21so many of them passed down through generations since the 80s and so much of it has to do with farm
02:29policy you know the politics are just as tangled as in the farms as they are in the rest of american
02:34society these days the way it's set up is big corporate monocrop it's commodity crops like
02:41cotton or coin or soybeans do enjoy pretty generous subsidies and bailouts when there are trade wars
02:47but it's the family farms who grow a diverse variety of vegetables that you find at the farm stand and on
02:53your table they really are cut out from that process and don't have much of a voice there and the financial
02:59struggles are there as well and then when you add on the immigration piece of it as well uh there's so
03:04many worries uh these days so many reasons to rally around but this is one for them today all right
03:11and what can we expect um tonight very briefly bill
03:17big one bob dylan neil young john melancham dave matthews prime time seven o'clock right here on cnn
03:22cnn oh bless you thank you bill weir and don't forget cnn is airing this year's farm and benefit
03:28concert live cnn's john berman and laura will host that is tonight at 7 eastern right here on cnn
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