A festival founded during the 1980s farm crisis hopes to highlight current hardships faced by Wisconsin farmers.

Tickets go on sale today for Farm Aid’s annual benefit, which it will hold Sept. 21 at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, about 30 miles southwest of Milwaukee.

The nonprofit was started in 1985 when musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized a concert to raise awareness and money for farmers struggling under low commodity prices.

Those three, along with Dave Matthews, will perform at the festival Sept. 21. It will be the second time the group has held the event in Wisconsin.

Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid, said the current economic climate for farmers feels similar to the 1980s. She points to the number of farmers seeking help through the organization’s resource hotline.

“Our calls are up like 109% from last year. And we are finding that farmers are really facing, especially dairy farmers are facing very, very grave situations,” Mugar said.

Darin Von Ruden, Wisconsin Farmers Union president, said he also sees the similarities. But he said, “We’re actually losing farmers at a higher percentage rate than what we were back in the ’80s.”