Host: Michael Stewart Foley

Michael Stewart Foley

Michael Stewart Foley is Farm Aid’s Cultural Impact Director, responsible for advancing Farm Aid’s mission by analyzing, communicating and deepening the cultural impact of the organization’s – and the greater farm movement’s – work. A native New Englander, Michael grew up obsessed with politics and popular music. Later, as an historian, writer, and organizer, he produced eight books on a range of social movements and on the intersection of politics and popular music; he also served as an advisor on a number of exhibition, film and television projects, including Mad Men. In addition to advising and co-writing The Boys Who Said No! Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War, he served as the film’s narrator. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Boston Sunday Globe, The Daily Beast and other news and public affairs outlets. (Photo © Suzanne Porter)


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Against The Grain – The Farm Aid Podcast
Against The Grain - The Farm Aid Podcast
Against the Grain is the Farm Aid podcast, designed to bring the magic of Farm Aid’s annual festival to listeners year-round. Listeners will hear from artists and farmers, advocates and food experts, activists and policymakers – all of whom are working towards building a more just and equitable farm and food system.  Farm Aid’s Jessica Ilyse Kurn and Michael Stewart Foley will take you all over the country, from Farm Aid’s backstage and Homegrown Village to rural and urban farms and farmers’ markets. There, you’ll meet the extraordinary citizens who make up the Farm Aid universe, fighting the industrial agriculture giants, holding the government accountable, and shifting the culture towards a food and farm model that is better for farmers, the planet and for all of us.  In Season 1, we talked to a range of farmers, organizers and artists about the most pressing issues in our farm and food systems. In Season 2, we spoke with more than two dozen artists about using their platforms to speak to social and political issues. Our upcoming season will bring us back to Minnesota, host of Farm Aid’s 40th anniversary festival, to spotlight the work of farmers and others in fighting corporate dominance of meat processing in rural Minnesota....
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