The annual Farm Aid concert and its mission to elevate the nation’s family farms will be held in Minnesota this weekend and with producers in a crisis similar to the 1980s, an operation in the western half of the state might give hope about ways to survive hardship.

Tariff uncertainty and a rise in farm bankruptcies are among the pressures ag economists cite as they monitor the unfolding crisis.

Jim VanDerPol, co-owner of Pastures a Plenty Farm near Kerkhoven, which has been in his family for multiple generations, said for a long time, it was mostly corn and soybeans and a small hog outfit. But over the decades, the farm has expanded what it raises and grows, while emphasizing soil health.

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