On the Road Again to Document Indiana’s Farmers

The Farm Aid Festival

Each year, Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price host an annual festival to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised nearly $80 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.

A number of years ago, Farm Aid met Scott Streble, a documentary photographer from Minnesota who had come to photograph the Farm Aid festival. His photos of the Farm Aid stage were stunning, but we soon found that photographing farmers was what he really wanted to do. After that first festival, he offered to go out to wherever our next festival would be held and spend time photographing the region’s farmers so that we could spotlight their faces and their farms at our festival. That was music to our ears.

John Mellencamp at Farm Aid 2022 in front of our LED screen backdrop. Photo © Scott Streble

Utilizing the incredible (and energy efficient) LED video screens that form the backdrop of our stage, family farmers become larger than life at Farm Aid, and their fields and pastures and barns create gorgeous backdrops for the Farm Aid artists as they perform.

“Meeting with farmers is such a privilege and truly an honor.” — Scott Streble

Sobremesa Farm. Photo © Scott Streble

It’s one way that Farm Aid helps to make family farmers feel like the rock stars they are. It’s a wonderful thing to see farmers in the audience see themselves on those big screens. And Scott generously sends all the photos to each of the farmers he photographs, allowing them to use the images in whatever way they like—on their websites, social media, marketing, etc. For farmers who just aren’t that into taking selfies while they go about the work on their farm, it’s a treat to be the focus of a skilled photographer’s lens. Scott is a gifted documentarian of humans, and he has a beautiful talent for capturing in each portrait a farmer’s strength, pride, wisdom and love of the land.

legacy taste of the garden farmer in hat

Legacy Taste of the Garden. Photo © Scott Streble

Shout out and great gratitude to Randi Roth, a longtime Farm Aid friend, family farm advocate and attorney who was part of Farmers Legal Action Group, for introducing us to her friend Scott. We’re so glad and fortunate to call him a Farm Aid friend now too.

Thank you, Scott, for bringing Indiana’s family farmers to our stage this year.

If you’re joining us at Ruoff Music Center or joining us from your home by watching the Circle broadcast or our webcast, see if you can recognize the Indiana farmers and farms you know and love!

Click through our gallery below for a preview of photos.