CNN Brings Farm Aid 2026 Live to Screens in September, With Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews
CNN will broadcast Farm Aid 2026 live on Saturday, September 26, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, marking the second year of its partnership with the long-running benefit festival. The four-hour special, titled "Farm Aid 2026: Music Festival Live," will air on CNN and stream live on CNN.com/watch and the CNN app for subscribers and pay-TV customers Variety.
The lineup reads like a Farm Aid board meeting set to music. Willie Nelson and Family, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff are all scheduled to perform during the broadcast Variety. Nelson, Young and Mellencamp founded Farm Aid in 1985; Matthews and Price sit on the organisation's board alongside them.
CNN anchors John Berman and Laura Coates will co-anchor the coverage from the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The same pair anchored CNN's Farm Aid broadcast in 2025, when the festival marked its 40th anniversary from Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis Farm Aid. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir will file on-the-ground reports from the festival grounds, tying the broadcast to the network's environmental coverage Variety.
The 2025 broadcast gives CNN a benchmark to measure against. That telecast reached 3.88 million people globally, and CNN viewers contributed more than $615,000 to Farm Aid during the live show Variety. Since its founding, Farm Aid has raised more than $85 million to support programmes for family farmers and what the organisation calls the Good Food Movement — a grassroots effort to connect consumers with food grown on family-run farms.
Farm Aid is offering donors who give $100 or more an official 2026 cotton shirt that is grown, made and union-printed in the USA Farm Aid. The shirt is a small detail but a deliberate one: the festival's mission centres on supporting domestic family farms, and the garment's supply chain reflects that goal.
The move to Virginia Beach shifts the festival south from last year's Minneapolis venue. Farm Aid has rotated cities throughout its history, each location chosen in partnership with local farming communities. The 2025 edition also aired on SiriusXM, Nugs and FarmAid.org alongside CNN Farm Aid; CNN has not yet confirmed whether those additional streaming partners will return for 2026.
For viewers, the broadcast offers a chance to watch six established artists perform live without a festival ticket — and to contribute to a cause that has now run for four decades. Whether the 2026 telecast can build on last year's audience of 3.88 million and its $615,000 in donations will depend on the same mix that drew viewers in 2025: recognisable names, a live setting and a fundraising pitch delivered between songs.
