September 22 - The First Farm Aid

Labor History in 2:00 · Sep 22, 2026 · 1m

On this day in Labor History the year was 1985.

That was the year that the first Farm Aid concert was held in Champaign, Illinois.

A retrospective article in Time magazine reported, “In the 1980s, American farmers were hit hard by what were, at the time, the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Droughts ravaged the fields, property values plunged, loan interest rates soared, thousands were forced off their land and faced foreclosure and bankruptcy.”

Farmer suicides rose at alarming rates.

The idea to use music to aid the farmers began with Bob Dylan at an event to help…