Across more than a century of U.S. farm policy, finance, and food safety, December 23 has repeatedly marked turning points. On this date, Washington enacted a landmark conservation law that still shapes how fields are farmed, confirmed the nation’s first case of mad cow disease and rewrote beef safety rules, and created the central bank that underpins seasonal farm credit. Together, these moments altered how America stewards land, safeguards its food, and funds the business of growing it.

1985: A conservation turning point that still shapes the countryside

On December 23, 1985, President Ronald Reagan signed the Food Security Act of 1985, better known as the 1985 farm bill. It arrived amid the farm crisis of the early 1980s and a growing recognition that topsoil loss, wetland conversion, and water pollution demanded action. The law paired economic support for producers with a new, enforceable conservation compact between farmers and taxpayers.

What changed

• Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): The act created CRP, paying farmers to retire highly erodible and environmentally sensitive land from crop production for 10–15 years and plant perennial cover. CRP quickly became one of the largest private-lands conservation programs in the world.
• Conservation compliance: To receive federal farm program benefits, producers had to follow soil conservation plans on highly erodible land—an unprecedented linkage of environmental stewardship to farm support.
• Sodbuster and Swampbuster: The law restricted breaking native grassland (sodbuster) and converting wetlands for crop production (swampbuster), or producers would lose eligibility for federal farm benefits.
• Dairy herd buyout: A temporary Dairy Termination Program paid producers to cull entire herds and exit commercial milk production for a set period, aiming to reduce chronic surpluses.
• Marketing loans: It introduced marketing loan provisions for crops like rice and cotton, helping producers manage price swings and cash flow without triggering large government stockpiles.

Lasting impact

CRP peaked near 37 million acres and still enrolls more than 20 million acres today, buffering streams and wetlands, curbing erosion, and providing wildlife habitat across the Plains, Midwest, and beyond. Conservation compliance, sodbuster, and swampbuster turned stewardship into a core condition of federal support, contributing to long-term reductions in soil loss on enrolled acres and improving downstream water quality. The law also reshaped commodity support mechanics and influenced later farm bills’ approach to risk management and conservation incentives.

Four decades on, debates continue over how many acres CRP should hold, how to balance habitat with production, and how conservation programs should evolve to meet climate and water challenges. But the 1985 framework—pay for environmental services, plus baseline protections tied to benefits—remains the model.

2003: The first U.S. case of BSE and a food safety reset

On December 23, 2003, federal officials confirmed the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, in a dairy cow in Washington state. The case, traced to an animal imported from Canada, instantly disrupted global beef trade as dozens of countries suspended imports of U.S. beef and cattle.

Immediate response

• Export shock: Key markets in Asia and elsewhere closed overnight, triggering price volatility and refocusing the industry on animal identification, trace-back, and risk communication.
• New safeguards: Within days, USDA and FDA enacted measures that included removing specified risk materials (such as certain tissues from older cattle) from the human food supply, barring non-ambulatory (“downer”) cattle from entering the food chain, tightening processing practices, and significantly expanding surveillance and testing.
• Enhanced surveillance: In the following years, the U.S. tested hundreds of thousands of cattle as part of an enhanced surveillance program to verify the rarity of the disease domestically.

Long-term changes

Trade gradually resumed as U.S. safeguards proved effective and international risk assessments improved. The episode accelerated discussions about animal identification and interstate traceability, biosecurity, and communication during food safety events. Today, BSE controls—such as feed restrictions and removal of specified risk materials—are embedded in standard practice, and U.S. beef exports have rebounded over time as trading partners recognized the efficacy of the safeguards.

1913: The central bank that stabilized seasonal farm credit

On December 23, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, creating the Federal Reserve System. While not a farm bill, its implications for agriculture were profound. By establishing a lender of last resort and a national payments backbone, the act helped stabilize rural banks and smooth the boom-and-bust cycle tied to planting and harvest.

Importantly, the system allowed the rediscounting of agricultural paper with longer maturities than typical commercial loans, recognizing the seasonal realities of crop and livestock production. That foundation supported the movement and storage of commodities, influenced interest rates across the rural economy, and set the stage for later, specialized farm credit institutions created in subsequent legislation.

Why these Dec. 23 milestones still matter

• Conservation and climate: The 1985 model—paying for measurable environmental benefits while tying program eligibility to baseline protections—continues to guide how the U.S. tackles soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and climate resilience on private working lands.
• Food safety and market access: The 2003 BSE shock hardwired risk management into beef processing and trade, underscoring how quickly consumer confidence and export markets can hinge on science-based safeguards and traceability.
• Credit and resilience: The Federal Reserve’s role in liquidity and interest rates still shapes farm balance sheets, equipment purchases, land values, and the cost of carrying grain or feeding livestock—especially salient in periods of rate volatility.

On this day: a quick timeline

• December 23, 1913: Federal Reserve Act signed, giving U.S. agriculture a more stable source of seasonal credit and payments infrastructure.
• December 23, 1985: Food Security Act signed, creating CRP, conservation compliance, sodbuster/swampbuster, the dairy herd buyout, and updated commodity tools.
• December 23, 2003: First U.S. BSE case confirmed, triggering sweeping food safety measures and a reordering of beef trade.

The bottom line

December 23 has repeatedly served as a hinge date for U.S. agriculture—locking in how the country conserves its soils and wetlands, guards the safety of its beef supply, and finances the annual cycle of planting and harvest. Each change continues to ripple through fields, feedyards, packing plants, grain elevators, and rural banks, shaping the way American agriculture grows food and earns a living today.