History
The Farm Bureau movement officially started in 1911 when John Barron, a farmer who graduated from Cornell University worked as an extension agent in Broome County, New York. He served as a "Farm Bureau" representative for farmers with the Binghamton, New York Chamber of Commerce. The effort was financed by the United States Department of Agriculture and Lackawanna Railroad. The Broome County Farm Bureau was soon separated from the Chamber of Commerce. Other farm bureaus on a county level formed across the country.
In 1914, with the passage of the Smith–Lever Act of 1914, Congress agreed to share with the states the cost of programs for providing what had come to be called "county agents," who furnished farmers information on improved methods of husbandry developed by the agricultural colleges and agricultural experiment stations. Eventually, this practice ceased to exist after anger over government subsidization of agriculture.
Farmers meeting in Saline County, Missouri were the first to form a state-wide Farm Bureau in 1915. The initial Farm Bureaus had a social and educational function furthering the extension service efforts, and they have additionally developed a lobbying presence as well.
The American Farm Bureau was formally created in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. Its initial organization papers said:
The purpose of Farm Bureau is to make the business of farming more profitable, and the community a more suitable place to live. Farm Bureau should provide an organization in which members may secure the benefits of unified efforts in a way which could never be accomplished through individual effort. - Statement originally approved by Farm Bureau members in 1920.
The American Farm Bureau Federation relocated its headquarters from Park Ridge, Illinois to Washington, D.C. in 2003. Each November since 1986, AFBF has reported the results of an informal survey on the average retail cost of a classic Thanksgiving dinner, including a 16-pound turkey and all the trimmings. In 2011, the reported cost was $49.20.
based in West Des Moines, Iowa sells insurance under the brand names of Farm Bureau Financial Services. It also uses the Farm Bureau logo.Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company began as an insurance company for members of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. It continues to serve as an insurance provider to Farm Bureaus in 9 states. Other insurance companies tied to Farm Bureaus include Farm Family Insurance, which serves as an insurance provider to Farm Bureaus in 5 states.
The Farm Bureau and its state affiliates also own American Agricultural Insurance Company, a reinsurer, and American Farm Bureau Insurance Services, a crop insurer.
Read more about this topic: American Farm Bureau Federation
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