January 11 has echoed through American agriculture with moments that reshaped farm incomes, land stewardship, markets, and the daily staples on kitchen tables. From presidential agendas and landmark health findings to conservation moves and commodity supply control, this date threads together policy, public health, and production in ways farmers and consumers still feel.
1944: A president puts farm income at the center of national rights
On January 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union address outlining a “Second Bill of Rights.” Among the guarantees he argued Americans should expect in peacetime was the right of farmers to earn a fair return for their work. Coming amid wartime mobilization, the message validated parity pricing and price-support mechanics that had been evolving since the New Deal and would continue to shape federal farm programs for decades. It reinforced the idea that stable farm income wasn’t just an agricultural concern—it was a pillar of national economic security.
1983: USDA’s Payment-in-Kind pivot to cut surpluses
On January 11, 1983, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the Payment‑in‑Kind (PIK) program, a dramatic intervention aimed at shrinking Depression‑sized stockpiles and stabilizing prices after the early‑1980s farm slump. Growers who agreed to idle a portion of their base acreage in program crops—such as corn, wheat, cotton, and rice—received certificates redeemable for commodities held in government inventories instead of cash.
PIK took tens of millions of acres out of production, reduced carryover stocks, and nudged prices up, offering sorely needed relief on operating loans and balance sheets. It also previewed later conservation and set‑aside approaches, culminating in the Conservation Reserve Program (established in 1985) that paired supply control with resource protection.
1964: Tobacco farming’s long turn after a health watershed
On January 11, 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General released “Smoking and Health,” the first comprehensive federal report linking cigarette smoking to serious disease. The finding initiated a half‑century shift in U.S. tobacco agriculture, with consumption declines, new labeling and advertising limits, and gradual downsizing of domestic quota programs. Over time, production consolidated, farms diversified into other crops, and Congress ultimately ended the federal tobacco quota and price support system with a 2004 buyout. The report’s ripple effects reshaped entire rural economies across the Southeast.
National Milk Day: A toast to safer, cleaner milk
January 11 is widely observed as National Milk Day in the United States, often tied to the late‑19th‑century move to deliver milk in sterilized glass bottles—an early milestone in modern dairy safety. The day highlights a century of public‑health advances that followed, including pasteurization, the Grade “A” Pasteurized Milk Ordinance standards, and an integrated cold chain. Those steps boosted consumer confidence, scaled urban milk markets, and helped make dairy a dependable protein and calcium source nationwide.
1908: Grand Canyon protection and a conservation ethic with agricultural reach
On January 11, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon a national monument under the Antiquities Act. While celebrated for its natural grandeur, the action also reflected a conservation ethos that mattered to agriculture: protecting watersheds, managing grazing on public lands, and anchoring long‑term resource stewardship in the arid West. The monument (later a national park) became part of a broader framework—alongside national forests and, later, Bureau of Land Management rangelands—that still shapes grazing permits, range health standards, and water security for downstream farms and communities.
1861: A secession date that rattled global cotton
On January 11, 1861, Alabama seceded from the Union, joining a cascade that would fracture the cotton economy. The Civil War disrupted exports, contributed to the “Cotton Famine” in Britain, and forced rapid adjustments in trade routes and farm finance. In the conflict’s shadow, Congress passed the Homestead Act and the Morrill Land‑Grant College Act in 1862, seeding the settlement of new farm regions and building the research and extension system that still underpins U.S. agricultural innovation.
Why January 11 still matters on the farm
- Farm income policy: Roosevelt’s framing of fair farm returns continues to influence debates over reference prices, crop insurance, and safety nets in modern farm bills.
- Market management: PIK’s supply‑control blueprint echoes in today’s conservation and risk‑management tools that balance production with sustainability.
- Public health and crops: The 1964 report shows how science can realign entire commodity sectors—and rural economies—with lasting consequences.
- Food safety trust: Dairy’s century‑long march toward safer milk underpins consumer confidence that the broader food system relies on.
- Land and water: The Grand Canyon designation symbolizes how conservation policy intersects with grazing, watershed resilience, and the long game of farming in the West.
- Trade shocks: The Civil War’s cotton convulsions are an early reminder that geopolitical breaks ripple fast through farm gates and ports alike.