November 25 has quietly marked several turning points in the story of American agriculture—from the opening of a vast interior breadbasket in the 18th century, to the monetary battles of the late 19th century, to modern-day biosecurity at the nation’s borders, and even the rhythms of Thanksgiving that spotlight the farm economy. Here is what happened on this date and why it still matters on the farm and at the table.

1758: The fall of Fort Duquesne opened the Ohio Valley to farming and trade

On November 25, 1758, British forces under General John Forbes captured Fort Duquesne from the French during the French and Indian War and renamed the site Pittsburgh. Control of the forks of the Ohio unlocked a critical river gateway that, in the decades that followed, helped channel migration, settlement, and agricultural development across the interior. Grain and livestock from the Ohio Valley began moving by flatboat and, later, by canal and rail to eastern cities and seaports, laying foundations for a national food economy.

The agricultural legacy of that strategic shift is hard to overstate. The region’s soils and waterways supported mixed farming, milling, whiskey distilling, and—eventually—integrated commodity markets. It set the stage for the United States’ westward farm expansion and for recurring debates over transportation, taxation, and farm prices that reached from the frontier to the federal capital.

1874: Farmers help launch the Greenback movement in Indianapolis

On November 25, 1874, reformers meeting in Indianapolis organized what became known as the Greenback Party. In the wake of the Panic of 1873 and a wrenching deflation, many farmers—burdened by debts that grew harder to repay as prices fell—backed calls to expand the supply of paper money (“greenbacks”) rather than return strictly to the gold standard.

Although the Greenback Party would fade by the 1880s, the movement left a lasting imprint on rural politics and policy. It helped galvanize agrarian activism that later flowed into Populism, influenced debates over “free silver,” and seeded ideas that eventually shaped federal farm credit systems and the government’s role in stabilizing farm incomes and prices. The tensions the movement highlighted—between tight money that benefits creditors and easier credit that helps producers—remain recognizable in farm country whenever interest rates swing and margins tighten.

1963: A national day of mourning pauses commodity trading

On November 25, 1963, as the nation gathered for President John F. Kennedy’s funeral, U.S. financial markets—including major grain and livestock exchanges—suspended trading for a national day of mourning. The quiet trading pits offered a stark reminder of how deeply agriculture had become intertwined with modern finance by the mid-20th century.

By then, futures and options were central tools for farmers, elevators, packers, and exporters managing price risk. A one-day halt delayed hedges and deliveries, but it also underscored the systemic importance of stable markets to the business of feeding the country—and the world.

2002: Homeland Security Act reshapes agricultural biosecurity at U.S. borders

On November 25, 2002, the Homeland Security Act (Public Law 107-296) was signed into law, creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Among its many changes, the law shifted agricultural quarantine inspection at ports of entry—work long associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture—to DHS’s newly formed Customs and Border Protection. The transfer took effect in 2003 and has defined how the United States screens passengers, baggage, cargo, and mail for plant pests, animal diseases, and prohibited foods ever since.

For agriculture, the stakes are enormous. A single invasive insect or pathogen can disrupt harvests, trigger quarantines, and reroute export flows. The post-2002 interagency framework formalized joint surveillance, emergency response, and user-fee funding for inspections, while also forcing closer coordination between law enforcement and agricultural scientists. The system is now a first line of defense against threats ranging from Mediterranean fruit fly incursions to the risk of transboundary livestock diseases—risks that carry mounting costs as global trade accelerates.

2021: When Thanksgiving fell on November 25, farms felt the post-pandemic squeeze

When Thanksgiving landed on November 25 in 2021, the holiday offered a snapshot of an ag economy under strain. Poultry growers and processors were navigating labor shortages and logistics bottlenecks; feed and energy prices were elevated; and food inflation was beginning to bite. Even as the turkey industry worked to meet tradition-driven demand, the meal on America’s tables reflected upstream pressures on farmers and packers that would reverberate through 2022–2023.

Thanksgiving remains a seasonal mirror for the farm sector: a moment when supply chains—from grain and oilseed fields to feed mills, barns, cold storage, trucking, and retail meat cases—are tested in real time by predictable demand surges and unpredictable shocks.

Why these moments still matter

• Infrastructure and geography: Control of river gateways like the forks of the Ohio shaped where farms could thrive and how crops reached markets—a lesson echoed today in debates over locks, dams, ports, and rail capacity on the Mississippi and beyond.
• Credit and currency: The Greenback movement captured enduring farm concerns about interest rates, liquidity, and price levels. Those concerns are front-and-center whenever producers weigh operating loans against volatile input costs and uncertain futures prices.
• Market continuity: The 1963 pause in trading is a reminder that resilient, transparent commodity markets are essential to farm risk management, from hedging grain to forward-contracting cattle.
• Biosecurity at the border: The 2002 shift to DHS underscored that protecting crops and herds is as much about smart, well-resourced inspections and data-sharing as it is about farms themselves. Preventing the next pest or disease incursion is cheaper—and kinder to producers—than combating an outbreak after it arrives.

Taken together, the events of November 25 trace a line from the physical opening of America’s farm heartland, through the financial architecture that supports it, to the modern safeguards that keep it productive. They are reminders that agriculture’s history is not just about fields and barns, but also about rivers and roads, money and markets, borders and biosecurity—and, of course, the harvest traditions that bring it all to the table.