October 11 has repeatedly marked turning points for America’s farms and food system—from headline-making trade developments to weather disasters that reshaped harvests in real time. Here is a look at notable moments that unfolded on this date and why they still matter for producers, markets, and rural communities.

2019: A trade truce in principle with China jolts farm markets

On October 11, 2019, the White House announced a preliminary “phase one” trade agreement with China that prominently featured agricultural purchases. After more than a year of retaliatory tariffs that sharply reduced U.S. soybean shipments and disrupted export flows of pork, sorghum, and dairy, the news sent a jolt through futures markets and farm country. The administration touted prospective Chinese purchases in the tens of billions of dollars, and the announcement set the stage for the formal signing of the Phase One pact in January 2020.

The near-term market reaction reflected relief as well as uncertainty: grain and oilseed prices bounced on the headline, while traders waited for shipment data and licensing activity to confirm follow-through. In the longer run, the deal helped reopen key channels for U.S. soybeans and meats, even as China diversified sourcing and U.S. exporters broadened their customer base in Southeast and South Asia. The episode underscored two enduring realities for U.S. agriculture: export dependence as a pillar of farm income, and the need for risk management tools when trade policy becomes volatile.

2018: Hurricane Michael’s dawn reveals catastrophic farm damage

Hurricane Michael made landfall on Florida’s Panhandle on October 10, 2018, and by the morning of October 11 the scale of agricultural damage across the Southeast was coming into focus. In southwest Georgia and the Florida Big Bend, fields of cotton ready for picking were shredded or stripped, pecan orchards suffered massive tree losses, peanut fields were waterlogged, and vegetable and nursery operations sustained extensive structural and crop damage. Timber suffered staggering blowdowns across millions of acres.

Early assessments on October 11 and the days that followed helped shape state and federal disaster declarations, emergency aid, and insurance claims. For growers, the storm’s timing—hitting at peak harvest—magnified losses and exposed just how sensitive high-value specialty and row crops are to late-season wind events. The recovery spanned years, particularly for perennial crops like pecans and for timberlands, which faced long timelines to replant and restore.

2019: A historic Plains blizzard stalls harvest and buries sugar beets

From October 10–12, 2019, a powerful early-season blizzard swept the Northern Plains, with October 11 bringing heavy snow, fierce winds, and widespread power outages to North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. The storm struck during an already-delayed harvest, freezing unlifted sugar beets in the ground, lodging corn, and complicating soybean and small-grain harvests. In the Red River Valley, cooperatives ultimately declared large portions of the sugar beet crop unharvestable due to frost damage—losses that reverberated through growers, processors, and rural economies.

The blizzard highlighted the compounding risks producers face from compressed growing seasons and autumn weather volatility. It also tested crop insurance design, harvest logistics, and processor contracts, prompting after-action changes in harvest planning and field readiness for cold snaps.

2013: Shutdown silences USDA reports on a critical market day

October 11, 2013 fell squarely within a 16-day federal government shutdown that halted the flow of essential USDA market intelligence. The monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report—scheduled for that day—was canceled, as were weekly Crop Progress updates. With combines rolling and basis levels shifting, grain and oilseed markets were forced to price new information without the usual official benchmarks on yields, stocks, and exports.

The interruption illustrated how deeply the modern farm economy depends on timely, transparent data. Merchandisers, elevators, processors, and growers all leaned harder on private estimates, satellite readings, and anecdotal field reports to navigate harvest decisions. When USDA reporting resumed, pent-up uncertainty contributed to price volatility and re-priced risk across the supply chain.

1809: Meriwether Lewis’s death and the enduring agricultural legacy of exploration

Explorer and territorial governor Meriwether Lewis died on October 11, 1809, along the Natchez Trace in present-day Tennessee. While best known for the Corps of Discovery’s transcontinental journey, the expedition’s meticulous notes on soils, native crops, forage, and climate helped frame early assessments of agricultural potential in the West. Those observations informed settlement patterns, stock routes, and early choices about what could be grown where—an intellectual foundation that, for better and for worse, shaped the expansion of U.S. agriculture across Indigenous lands.

Why these “on this day” moments still matter

Threaded through these October 11 milestones are themes that continue to define U.S. agriculture: exposure to geopolitical risk, the mounting costs of extreme weather, the centrality of trusted data, and the long shadow of history on land use and production. For growers planning next season’s rotations, for policymakers weighing disaster support and trade strategy, and for consumers who rely on resilient supply chains, the date’s past is a practical guide to the choices ahead.