A Letter to Young Farmers from Willie Nelson and David Senter

Dear Young Farmers,

The growing number of young farmers has been a bright spot in the agricultural landscape recently. The commitment you’re making to your families, your communities and our water, soil and climate is not an easy one—and it never has been. We want you to know that, even with the wave of uncertainty farmers are facing right now, the work you’re doing has never been more critical for our country.

Weather is always a major concern for those of us planting crops and caring for livestock, and many farmers across the country are still impacted by the extreme weather events of 2024. Disaster programs that were authorized by Congress at the end of 2024 have not been implemented and are desperately needed. Input costs remain stubbornly high and are increasing with new tariffs. Frozen USDA contracts mean you’re owed money for investments you’ve made in your farm that should have already been reimbursed by USDA, and there’s no clear information about when or if those reimbursements might be received. This makes it even more challenging to make your business plans and secure the funding you need for a successful season in 2025. USDA programs that support the creation and nurturing of crucial local markets, including food banks and schools, have been canceled, shutting down valuable markets for your products. Staffing cuts and USDA office closures cause us to worry that essential services from the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Services will be delayed or cease to exist at all. We’re concerned about our access to critical agriculture research and reports, which are important tools that help our farm operations succeed. The list of farmer worries goes on and on.

As two long timers in the movement to keep farmers on the land, we want to encourage you to connect with farmers who have been through hard times before. Farmers and farm advocates like us have been through some of the hardest times—during the Farm Crisis of the 1980s—and we learned much during that experience (and every day in the years since!). It was political organizing by farmers and those who support them, as well as legal strategy, that ended the period of intense hardship known as the Farm Crisis. That said, we have much to learn from you all too!

We have been heartened to see that a new culture of connection and sharing has emerged in farm country. Young farmers talk about the stress and concerns they feel, and the challenges they face in a way that was not done during the 1980s Farm Crisis. The culture of farmers keeping their feelings and worries and challenges to themselves has shifted, thanks to your generation’s great work to highlight stress and mental health among farmers. That openness and vulnerability will serve you all well as you weather this new crisis. Additionally, we have been excited to see political and legal organizing by farmers coming together in recent weeks.

We’re standing with farmers who are speaking out right now. They love their local communities and are speaking up to protect them. Lawsuits have been filed by farmers and farm organizations, laying an important path to solutions. Farmers are flooding the phone lines and inboxes of their elected officials, and as a result we now have a bill in Congress. The Honor Farmer Contracts Act is another important path to ensuring you can continue to farm your land and produce food for your communities. A recent farmer rally in Western Massachusetts brought out more than 300 farmers and farm supporters to protest the USDA funding freezes and cuts, along with policymakers standing in full support. No doubt we’ll see more of these in-person gatherings to bring farmers (and eaters) together. We believe this is how we will get change made.

All farmers—no matter their age, background, politics, location, size, type or production methods—must call on each other in these challenging times. We invite you to call on us, and hope that you will answer when we call on you. We’re in this together and it’s only together that we will get through. This may require us to reach across our differences. But as is often the case, we’re likely to find that the things we hold in common far outweigh our disagreements. Farmers share a common concern and care for the health of our crops and animals, our soil and water, our communities and our health as a people and planet. We are determined to prevent the corporate takeover of all food production, making sure there is opportunity for independent farmers and ranchers on the land. The farmer’s role is essential and well worth fighting for.

We want you to know you are not alone. We stand with you and are here to support you because you are the future of family farm agriculture.

In Solidarity,

Willie NelsonMore by this author →

Willie Nelson is one of the most prolific and beloved musicians in American history, as well as an author, poet, actor and activist. He was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993. He is the president of Farm Aid, which he founded in 1985, when he hosted a benefit concert with fellow musicians John Mellencamp and Neil Young to stand with farmers and rural residents during the Farm Crisis. Since then, Farm Aid has continued its mission to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture and to fight against corporate greed.

David SenterMore by this author →

David Senter was born in 1948 into a farm family with deep roots. He would become the fourth generation to farm his family’s land in Burleson, Texas, and the first to fight for his and his fellow farmers’ rights to earn a fair living off what they produced. His fight would take him from Texas right into the middle of the battle in Washington D.C. He was among the farmers that helped start the American Agricultural Movement in 1977, and in 1978 and 1979 he helped organized a national tractorcade on Washington D.C. to motivate President Jimmy Carter and Congress to take action and address the economic plight of farmers. He has worked with Farm Aid from the very beginning (about 10 days before the first concert on September 22, 1985). He has attended every Farm Aid concert since then, as well as all of the major Farm Aid events.