“Permanent law” was born on this date: The Agricultural Act of 1949

On October 31, 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the Agricultural Act of 1949 into law. Alongside the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, this statute forms the bedrock of what policymakers and farm groups still call “permanent law.” Its provisions were designed for a mid-20th-century farm economy awash in postwar volatility, but they continue to undergird modern farm policy whenever contemporary farm bills lapse or are not renewed on time.

The 1949 Act established mandatory price-support and supply-management authorities for key “basic commodities,” relying on parity-era formulas to stabilize farm income. In practice, that means:

  • The law directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support farm prices for certain commodities using nonrecourse loans and government purchases—measures intended to keep farm prices from collapsing during gluts.
  • Support levels are tied to “parity,” a concept that compares prices farmers receive with the costs they pay, using 1910–1914 as a historical benchmark. Because the parity formula reflects a very different era, allowing it to operate unmodified today can produce support levels far above current market prices.
  • The statute authorizes marketing quotas and acreage allotments—tools to curb surplus production—should the Secretary of Agriculture activate them.

Modern farm bills, typically renewed every five years, temporarily suspend or amend many of these permanent-law provisions to reflect today’s markets, conservation priorities, nutrition policy, and risk management tools. When Congress nears a deadline without a new bill, talk of reverting to permanent law surfaces—most vividly around dairy, where parity-based support would trigger aggressive government purchases of butter, cheese, and nonfat dry milk to lift farm milk prices, potentially causing a spike at the retail level. That recurring “dairy cliff” headline is a direct legacy of what was signed on this date in 1949.

The 1949 Act also reinforced the role of the Commodity Credit Corporation as the financing backbone for farm programs, and it preserved the federal government’s ability to intervene in commodity markets during periods of severe imbalance. Seventy-six years later, it remains the legal backstop that gives farm policy its continuity through changing political cycles and economic shocks.

Halloween on the farm: Weather events that marked the date

1991: The Halloween Blizzard and the Upper Midwest harvest

Beginning on October 31, 1991, a record-setting blizzard swept across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa. Snow totals reached two to three feet in some communities, bringing late-season harvest operations to a standstill. Producers who were still combining corn and soybeans suddenly faced impassable fields, downed power lines, and stress on livestock as temperatures plunged.

The storm’s timing amplified its agricultural impact: by late October, many growers are racing shorter daylight and narrowing weather windows to finish harvest. The blizzard forced emergency feed and fuel logistics, accelerated winterization of equipment, and, in places, caused quality losses where crops remained in the field under snow and ice. Its memory endures in Upper Midwest farm country as a case study in operational resilience and the value of diversified on-farm energy and storage.

2015: Texas’ Halloween floods

On October 30–31, 2015, torrential rains—locally in the double digits—triggered flash flooding from the Hill Country into Central and South Texas. The deluge damaged county roads and river crossings that ranchers and row-crop producers rely on, delayed cotton and sorghum movement, and led to pasture and hay losses along floodplains. For producers who had just navigated the state’s spring floods earlier that year, the Halloween event underscored the swing from drought to deluge that defines weather risk on the Southern Plains.

2011: A “Snowtober” blow to Northeastern orchards

The late-October 2011 nor’easter peaked on the 29th–30th, with impacts stretching into October 31 as outages persisted. Heavy, wet snow on trees still in leaf caused widespread limb breakage across New England. Apple growers and diversified fruit operations reported orchard damage that required years of pruning and replacement to fully recover, a reminder that storm timing—not just intensity—can govern agricultural losses.

Why this date still matters

  • Policy continuity: The 1949 Act is the reason farm programs don’t disappear when Congress misses a renewal deadline; instead, the system reverts to parity-era rules unless lawmakers act. That backstop shapes negotiations every time a farm bill approaches expiration.
  • Market signals: Parity-based supports were designed for a different cost structure. The possibility of reversion influences how dairy processors, cooperatives, and producers plan for year-end contingencies.
  • Risk management lessons: Halloween-timed storms—from blizzards to flood events—illustrate the value of crop insurance, on-farm storage, backup power, and flexible logistics when weather narrows the harvest window.

Context for readers

The United States built its farm policy architecture in layers: New Deal supply management in the 1930s, postwar stabilization in 1949, and, over the last several decades, an expanded portfolio that includes crop insurance, conservation incentives, disaster assistance, and nutrition programs. October 31 sits at the intersection of that history—a date that codified the legal safety net and, in multiple years, delivered weather that tested it on the ground.