November 24 has been a consequential date for American agriculture, touching the fences that defined the Plains, the water that irrigates the West, the storms that have tested rural resilience, and the ideas and politics that still shape fields and farms. From a transformative patent and a watershed compact to a paralyzing Thanksgiving weekend blizzard—and even a landmark political confrontation over tariffs—this date is a prism for how land, water, science, and policy intersect in U.S. farm and ranch life.

1874 — The Barbed Wire Patent That Closed the Open Range

On November 24, 1874, the U.S. Patent Office issued Patent No. 157,124 to Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, for an “improvement in wire-fences”—the now-iconic form of barbed wire. Glidden’s design, often called the “Winner” barb, could be produced efficiently and held its barbs firmly in place, making fencing affordable and practical across the treeless Great Plains.

The agricultural consequences were sweeping:

  • End of the open range: Ranchers and homesteaders could fence property boundaries, protect crops, and manage grazing, accelerating settlement under the Homestead Act.
  • Crop expansion and livestock control: Wheat, corn, and other field crops could be protected from free-ranging cattle, raising yields and reducing losses.
  • New conflicts and adaptations: The spread of fencing sparked “range wars” and fence-cutting in the 1870s–1880s, but also drove innovations in herd management, water development, and property law on the frontier.

Barbed wire reshaped the physical and economic landscape of American agriculture, from Texas cattle country to the Northern Plains wheat belt.

1922 — The Colorado River Compact Sets the Terms of Western Irrigation

On November 24, 1922, state commissioners from the seven Colorado River Basin states signed the Colorado River Compact at Bishop’s Lodge near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Chaired by U.S. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, the agreement divided the river between an Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming) and a Lower Basin (Arizona, California, Nevada), apportioning 7.5 million acre-feet (MAF) per year to each basin. A later 1944 treaty allocated 1.5 MAF to Mexico.

For agriculture, the compact underwrote a century of irrigation development:

  • Canals and projects: It enabled massive works like Hoover Dam, the All-American Canal, and later the Central Arizona Project—systems that turned deserts into productive farm regions in places like California’s Imperial Valley and Arizona’s Yuma and Pinal counties.
  • Over-allocation and scarcity: The compact relied on river flow estimates from an unusually wet period, contributing to chronic over-allocation. In a warming climate, reduced runoff and prolonged drought have forced hard choices among cities, tribes, ecosystems, and farms over limited supplies.
  • Enduring governance: Court decrees, federal laws, interstate agreements, and tribal rights layered onto the compact—now collectively called the “Law of the River”—continue to shape planting decisions, water pricing, and fallowing programs across the West.

For producers from alfalfa to winter vegetables, November 24, 1922, marks the beginning of the modern water era in Western agriculture—beneficial yet increasingly constrained.

1950 — A Thanksgiving Weekend Storm Tests Rural Resilience

The Great Appalachian Storm of 1950 began on November 24 and raged through the Thanksgiving weekend, producing blizzard conditions across the Ohio Valley and Appalachians and hurricane-force winds along the East Coast. While remembered for urban drifts and power outages, its agricultural impacts were severe and immediate:

  • Livestock losses and stress: Extreme cold and wind exposure led to animal losses, particularly among outdoor herds and poultry, and complicated feed and water delivery.
  • Dairy disruptions: Downed power lines and impassable roads forced milk dumping in some regions and interrupted processing and distribution at creameries.
  • Infrastructure damage: Barn collapses under snow loads, equipment damage, and toppled orchard trellising added costs through the winter.
  • Winter wheat vulnerability: Newly emerged wheat faced wind desiccation and freeze stress in exposed fields, with stand damage reported in parts of the Midwest and Appalachians.

The storm underscored the value of rural electrification, all-weather roads, and localized emergency planning—investments that have since reduced, but not eliminated, agriculture’s vulnerability to extreme weather.

1832 — Tariffs, Cotton, and the Ordinance of Nullification

On November 24, 1832, a South Carolina convention adopted the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the federal tariffs of 1828 and 1832 “null and void” within the state. The crisis centered on how protective tariffs burdened the export-oriented, slave-based agricultural economy of the South—especially cotton—by raising the price of imported goods and provoking fears of retaliatory trade measures against Southern staples.

The standoff—met by President Andrew Jackson’s forceful response and ultimately defused by the Compromise Tariff of 1833—spotlights a recurring tension in U.S. agriculture: the downstream effects of trade and tax policy on farm incomes, input costs, and regional competitiveness. The date marks a high-water moment in the politics of an agrarian South navigating a rapidly industrializing nation.

1859 — A Book That Changed Breeding: Darwin’s Origin of Species

Published on November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species offered a unifying theory for biological change. Though authored in Britain, its impact on American agriculture was profound: it informed the scientific underpinnings of plant and animal breeding, later synthesized with Mendelian genetics to drive 20th-century advances in hybrid corn, improved livestock lines, and, ultimately, molecular breeding tools.

Land-grant universities and USDA researchers integrated evolutionary principles into breeding programs that boosted yields, improved disease resistance, and reshaped input use—benefits that still echo across fields, orchards, and rangelands.

1784 — Birth of Zachary Taylor, A President From the Plantation Economy

Born November 24, 1784, Zachary Taylor—future 12th President of the United States—was raised on the agrarian frontier and later owned plantations worked by enslaved people. His life and wealth were rooted in the plantation economy that dominated the antebellum South, a system whose labor and land-tenure structures shaped crop choices, trade patterns, and political conflict over expansion and slavery. His birthdate offers a reminder that U.S. agricultural history is inseparable from the nation’s social and economic structures—past and present.

Why November 24 Matters

Taken together, the events of November 24 illuminate enduring themes in American agriculture: how a simple technology can transform landscapes; how shared rivers demand hard bargains; how extreme weather can ripple through supply chains; how trade and tax policy reverberate on the farm; how scientific ideas unlock productivity; and how agriculture’s past remains intertwined with broader social history. The date is less a single milestone than a set of turning points that still influence how—and where—America grows its food and fiber.