After a day on the farm, we asked the creators what they heard that they couldn’t stop thinking about. The answers went from what it takes to make better food possible, to why farmers need more support, to…whether we could hug the pig 🐷 Big ideas, honest reactions, and @sanderjennings is still working out his hook 😂 This is what happens when you bring people together and let them experience the food system up close. What would you have wanted to ask on the farm? #FarmAid2026 #Road2FarmAid #FamilyFarms #FoodSystemChange #UpRootCenter

Before @farmaid, we brought 25+ creators to @cartwrightfamilyfarms. We came for a farm tour and left feeling like a community 💚 We walked the farm, listened to the people growing our food, and gathered around an incredible dinner by Chef Mary of @untamedchefva. Somewhere between those conversations and that table, the food system we’re working toward felt a little closer. Thank you to our hosts at Cartwright Family Farms; to Tom and the @4pfoods team for donating the locally sourced fruits and vegetables; and to Kelly of @whatthefarmva for joining our panel and providing the delicious bacon and eggs. This is how connection turns into hope and how hope gives us energy for the work ahead. #FarmAid2026 #Road2FarmAid #FamilyFarms #FoodSystemChange #UpRootCenter

For @ashlenbusick, Farm Aid feels like a homecoming. She’s been going since she was a kid, and her family’s connection to Farm Aid goes deeper than the music. This week, she’ll return with UpRoot, alongside independent farmers, growers, and advocates who care about the future of family farms. This work can be hard but @farmaid gives us a moment to be together, celebrate what we’re building, and remember why we keep showing up 💚 #FarmAid2026 #Road2FarmAid #FamilyFarms #Farmers #UpRootCenter

Farm Aid week started with a little scouting trip 🐷 We stopped by @cartwrightfamilyfarms, met some very cute pigs, visited The Meat Shack (@coastalcattle) where they sell Cartwright’s meats, and grabbed lunch at Commune where they source from local farmers. These are some of the places our creators will visit on the upcoming farm tour. We’re excited for them to meet the people behind the food, ask questions, and bring those stories back to you. Consider this your behind-the-scenes preview. More from the farm tour soon 🌱 #FarmAid2026 #Road2FarmAid #FamilyFarmers #KnowYourFarmer #UpRootCenter

Our Co-founder and Vice President Lauren is headed to Farm Aid wearing her @whiteoakpastures sweatshirt: “A bold return to giving a damn.” And what does she see all over the airport? Smithfield ads. Of course 🙃 Happy Farm Aid Eve to everyone showing up for farmers and a better food system. Smithfield, you know why you’re not on the list. #FarmAid2026 #Road2FarmAid #FamilyFarmers #BigAg #UpRootCenter

At Food Day during Climate Week, Jake met @devsharma.myp of @biteback2030. They came from different sides of the Atlantic and found themselves in the same fight: a food system that puts corporate profits ahead of people. Dev shared how Bite Back’s young campaigners and their partners pushed for UK restrictions on ads for unhealthy foods: no paid online ads for covered products, and no TV ads before 9 p.m. Their message is one we need here, too: kids didn’t build this food environment. Big Ag did. From farm to fork, there’s a lot we can learn from each other. Thanks for the conversation, Dev 🌱 #BiteBack2030 #ClimateWeekNYC #FoodDay #FoodSystemChange #UpRootCenter

Antibiotics are one of the most important tools we have for treating serious infections. So when sales of medically important antibiotics for livestock jump 15.8% in a single year, that deserves attention. This isn’t about saying sick animals shouldn’t receive medicine. They absolutely should. The bigger question is why an industrial food system operating at enormous scale is using so much of the same class of medicine human health depends on — and what that means for antibiotic resistance. Farmers didn’t design the corporate incentives behind industrial-scale production. Consumers didn’t either. But we all live with the public-health consequences. If you’re ready to demand a food system that puts public health ahead of corporate profits, comment PLEDGE and we’ll send you the link. #BigAg #AntibioticResistance #PublicHealth #FoodSystem #UprootCenter

Farm Aid is more than a festival. For the people working every day to build a better food system, it’s a chance to come together, celebrate, rest and remember that none of us are doing this work alone. Because changing a system this big takes more than policy and organizing. It takes community. It takes relationships. And sometimes, it takes a weekend surrounded by people who remind you why you started in the first place. We’re headed to @farmaid ready to reconnect, recharge and come back even more committed to the work ahead. #FarmAid #FamilyFarmers #FoodSystem #FoodMovement #SupportFarmers

The red barn on the label is branding. The billionaires behind it are the real story. Joesley and Wesley Batista control JBS, the largest meatpacker in the world. Their corporate empire has been tied to a massive bribery scandal, price-fixing settlements and a sanitation contractor caught illegally employing children as young as 13 to clean dangerous meatpacking equipment. Meanwhile, brands owned by this global corporation keep selling us the image of wholesome, family-farm tradition. This isn’t about blaming farmers. It’s about exposing the corporations hiding behind them: consolidating power, collecting profits and leaving farmers, workers and families to bear the consequences. Comment PLEDGE to stand with independent farmers and demand a food system that puts people before corporate power. #corporatecontrol #knowyourfarmer #BigAg #JBS #FoodSystem #FoodJustice #RedBarnIllusion

When decisions are being made about how our food is grown, who gets a seat at the table? American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall continues to enjoy constant direct access to the White House — including during the debate over President Trump’s regenerative agriculture executive order. Reports from that meeting say Duvall pushed back over concerns that the order could undermine public confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply. Trump ultimately signed it. And that’s the bigger question we should be asking: who has access to the people deciding our agricultural policy, whose interests are being represented, and whose voices are missing from the room? Because understanding our food system also means understanding who has the power to shape it. #FoodSystem #FarmPolicy #BigAg #Agriculture #FoodPolitics

Farm Aid is more than a festival When independent family farmers are up against corporations with billions of dollars, enormous political influence and every incentive to keep our food system exactly as it is, gathering together matters. It’s a chance to celebrate the people actually growing our food, reconnect with others fighting for something better and remind ourselves that none of us are doing this alone. The UpRoot team is headed to @farmaid, and we cannot wait to bring you along. Because a better food system isn’t going to be handed to us by the corporations benefiting from the current one. We’re going to have to build it together. Who’s going to Farm Aid this year? 👇 #FarmAid #FamilyFarmers #SupportFarmers #FoodSystem #BigAg

The “family tradition” Big Ag sells us is only part of the story. A federal investigation found children as young as 13 working overnight sanitation shifts inside meatpacking plants, including JBS facilities. And in case you didn’t know, JBS — owned by billionaire brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista — is the largest meat processor in the world. They had kids cleaning dangerous equipment most of us would never want our own kids anywhere near. That’s the part you don’t see on the package. The warm kitchens. The family dinners. The wholesome branding. Meanwhile, workers can be carrying the risk behind the scenes. The problem isn’t the family farmer. It’s Big Ag borrowing the trust we place in families and farmers while operating on a completely different scale. We should know what’s behind the packaging. Comment PLEDGE and we’ll send you the link to stand with the workers and farmers behind our food. #BigAg #FoodSystem #FoodWorkers #CorporateAccountability #FoodJustice