Click here to read the full article.
CNN is returning for a second year in its partnership with Farm Aid, bringing the music festival to audiences nationwide.
“Farm Aid 2026: Music Festival Live” will air live on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET
on CNN and also will stream live on cnn.com/watch and the CNN app.
CNN’s airing of the evening will include performances by Farm Aid board member artists including Willie Nelson and Family, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, Margo Price and Nathaniel Rateliff.
CNN anchors John Berman and Laura Coates will co-anchor the special coverage from the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia. CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir will provide on-the-ground reporting from the celebration of music and family farmers.
In 2025, CNN’s live broadcast of the festival’s 40th anniversary reached 3.88 million people globally. CNN audiences contributed more than $615,000 to Farm Aid, according to the network.
“Farm Aid 2026: Music Festival Live” builds on CNN’s slate of special live programming, which has included the network’s live broadcast of Broadway’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” starring George Clooney as well as its New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July celebrations.
The annual Farm Aid festival, founded by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, raises funds to support family farmers and inspire audiences to choose family-farm food. Since 1985, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $85 million to support programs for farmers, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement and to “take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.”
