Labor Day arrives as August drops from the calendar; September signals the rapid approach of autumn, and with it this year the expectations for a record-breaking harvest (Hanrahan, August 26, 2024; U.S. Dept. of Labor, “History of Labor Day”; History.com, August 6, 2024). The first Monday in September has been the official celebration of Labor Day in the U.S. since June 28, 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed into law the bill establishing it. The idea of a holiday to honor workers traces to September 1882 in New York City—an era of intense labor unrest during the Industrial Revolution and the tumultuous transition from an agricultural to a manufacturing economy (Carroll, September 5, 2011; JSTOR Daily, September 1, 2023; JSTOR Archives). Expectations are exceedingly low for much laboring by Congress on Farm Bill reauthorization in September, or before the elections in November. The work of policy analysis continues and this article returns to the Inflation Reduction Act’s additional funding for conservation assistance to farmers (farmdoc daily, August 1, 2024).
