The Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association grew out of the agricultural unrest of the 1880s in the United States. Farmers who felt that they were being taken advantage of by merchants and brokers formed cooperatives for buying implements and house-hold supplies, and storing and selling crops. Many of these cooperatives in the state of Illinois joined to form the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association.
As soon as the benefits of the association were made manifest through its operations, it took on a comparatively rapid growth and extended to several states in the Midwestern United States, where a number of local or county associations were formed.
At a general meeting of the association held at Springfield, Illinois in November, 1890, it was decided to send delegates to the Southern Farmers' Alliance convention at Ocala, Florida the following month. Delegates were accordingly selected, and although the association maintained for some time afterward a separate existence as an organization, it really became a part of the Farmers' Alliance movement, the effects of which were felt all over the country.
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