On this day in agriculture history | Wednesday, March 31, 2021
What has happened in agriculture on March 31 over the years? Here are a few notable events.
6 years ago
A Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Cesar Chavez was held at the USDA in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2015. Then agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack and others spoke to a crowd of students and farmworker organization leaders.
6 years ago
Dry conditions were widespread in late March 2015. Parts of California, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Texas reported exceptional drought conditions. Top corn growing states Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas were experiencing moderate drought.
28 years ago
Heavy rains fell in Iowa with as much as 3.5 inches recorded in the central part of the state. In Grinnell a total of 2.24 inches of rain was recorded – the highest 24-hour total on record so early in the year at that location. The heavy rain combined with the melting of a deeper-than-normal snowpack caused flooding along much of the Cedar and Iowa River basins, with nearly all rivers in Iowa rising above flood stage. This set the stage for the historic floods that would follow later in the summer of 1993.
78 years ago
Oklahoma!, an award-winning musical, premiered on Broadway on March 31, 1943. The musical is set in farm country in 1906 and tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie. Years later, versions of this production are still performed.
94 years ago
Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona. He cofounded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962, which later became the United Farm Workers labor union.
94 years ago
On March 31, 1927, a snowstorm dumped 15 inches of snow in Rapid City, South Dakota. Many roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow.
- READ MORE:  Don’t let snow collapse your barn roof
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