QUICK TAKES - July 17, 2009

This year’s Farm Aid, the longest-running benefit concert in the United States, will be Oct. 4 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in suburban St. Louis.

Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise money for family farmers and draw attention to their plight.

Farm Aid has raised nearly $35 million to help keep family farmers on their land.