Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour Wraps With 100,000+ Fans And Generous Donations To Farming Communities
Bryan’s 13th Farm Tour has come to a close.
Luke Bryan; Photo by Ethan Helms
Luke Bryan’s 13th annual Farm Tour has come to an end after it’s run of six shows across the Midwest, which had more than 100,000 fans in attendance.
Since he first began this trek around small towns in 2009, Bryan has found various ways to give back to these communities that reflect the one that raised him in Leesburg, G.A. In order to reach his goals, he brought in some extra help from organizations and companies such as Fendt, Bayer and the National Pork Board.
His first effort was to help farming families by giving scholarships to students attending the local college or university near the tour stops. To date, 78 scholarships have been granted.
This year, Bryan also continued his partnership with Bayer, a “global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition.” Since 2015, Bayer has joined the Farm Tour as a sponsor to help fight hunger through its #HerestotheFarmer campaign, which asks fans to share the hashtag on social media to show their gratitude to America’s farmers.
For every share using the hashtag from June 1 through Oct. 31, 2022, Bayer pledged to provide one meal to a person in need through Feeding America. They started with a goal of 1 million meals and since the partnership’s inception, 6 million meals have been donated and more than $180,000 has gone to Feeding America member food banks and local farmers at each of the tour cities.
“Every time you thank a farmer with the hashtag, #HerestotheFarmer we’ll donate a meal to a hungry family in need through Feeding America. It’s what farmers do every day, and it’s the least we can do to thank them. So y’all use the hashtag. Then come see us out on the farm,” Bryan said in a previous video he posted to Instagram, encouraging fans to share their posts.
Just in time for the Farm Tour to travel across states that included Monroeville, IN, Mechanicsburg, OH, Fowlerville, MI, Murdock, NE, Boone, IA, and Eyota, MN, Bryan teamed up with the National Pork Board who in turn, partnered with Farmland, a brand of Smithfield Foods. Together, they provided high-quality protein to local food banks of each of the states that hosted the tour stops to help fight food insecurity across the Midwest. In addition, Farmland donated $9,000 to each state’s FFA Association.
Bryan also brought a small piece of his own fields to the tour through his Boldly Grown Popcorn that he created in partnership with Fendt, the agricultural machinery manufacturer. Fendt returned as a sponsor of the “That’s My Kind Of Night” singer on his journey to bring a large-scale concert to six family farms. Not only did the limited-edition snack sell out within minutes, but the site also crashed upon release.
With the announcement of the new snack, the country superstar also revealed that once the supply sold out, he and Fendt would donate $25,000 to the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Organization. Since that goal was accomplished, they kept their word.
“Really excited about Fendt coming on board for the second year of Farm Tour and really loving all the opportunities that we’re able to do with them, certainly as a tractor company and then obviously on the charitable aspect, and now launching our popcorn,” he previously told Country Now.
Special guests Riley Green, Jameson Rodgers, the Peach Pickers, and DJ Rock joined Bryan on this year’s Farm Tour. Now that this set of shows has concluded, Bryan will continue on his Raised Up Right tour, which kicked off on June 9 in Charleston, West Virginia.
Due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Ian, Bryan had to reschedule several dates on the tour and as a result, the tour will now wrap up on November 5 in Tampa, Florida.
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Written by
Madeleine O’Connell
Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.