American Farm Bureau Federation
Oxford Companion to US History:
Top
American Farm Bureau Federation
The American Farm Bureau Federation promotes the economic and educational interests of farmers. Coordinating a network of state and county bureaus, the Farm Bureau has helped shape American agricultural practices and policies since its formation in 1919. With about four million members, it is the nation's largest general farm organization. The most active support comes from the Middle West, where many of its original members resided. The organization's policies are generally conservative.
The Farm Bureau developed alongside the federal government's county agricultural education and extension system in the 1920s and 1930s. Both institutions sought to bring the latest scientific and technical advances to American agricultural producers. In many areas the bureau underwrote the cost of county extension agents who demonstrated new methods to farmers. This direct cooperation between the Farm Bureau and the government was strongest in the 1930s under the New Deal Era's Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Critics charged that this arrangement unfairly benefited only “modern,” capital-intensive farmers. The Farm Bureau responded that it was aiding the work and educational efforts of land-grant colleges and state agricultural experiment stations for the benefit of all farmers. While continuing to support the government's farmer education programs, the federation from the early 1940s on promoted its own educational efforts.
The federation also has acted as a major lobbying organization for agricultural legislation. During the Great Depression and the New Deal it developed or supported farm legislation that emphasized soil and water conservation, rural electrification, price supports, protective tariffs, and acreage-control regulations. After World War II the Farm Bureau recommended measures to reduce farmers' dependence on federal programs and to eliminate production quotas—a position rooted in its traditional belief in minimal government interference and control in a free-market agricultural economy.
The American Farm Bureau Federation has historically worked to open or expand markets for farm products as the best way to relieve farmers' economic problems, maintain high demand for American agricultural goods, and reduce crop surpluses. For many years the federation has urged local farmers to form marketing cooperatives to sell their products and to operate supply cooperatives, such as those for fuel or electricity, to reduce costs. The Farm Bureau also promotes farm safety and funds research for new uses of farm products.
Related Videos:
Top
American Farm Bureau Federation
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
American Farm Bureau Federation
This article is about the non-profit agricultural organization. For the insurance, fund and annuities financial company, see FBL Financial Group.
 |
|
| Founder(s) | John Barron |
|---|---|
| Type | Agricultural organization |
| Location | Washington D.C. |
| Key people | Bob Stallman, President Bob Young, Chief Economist Mark Maslyn, Executive Director, Public Policy Don Lipton, Executive Director, Public Relations |
| Area served | United States |
| Focus | Agriculture |
| Method | Lobbying |
| Website | www.fb.org |
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), commonly referred to as the Farm Bureau, is a nonprofit organization and the largest general farm organization in the United States. The stated mission of AFBF is "working through our grassroots organizations to enhance and strengthen the lives of rural Americans and to build strong, prosperous agricultural communities." AFBF is headquartered in Washington, DC. There are 50 state Farm Bureau affiliates and one in Puerto Rico.
|
Contents
|
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.[1]
The American Farm Bureau Federation relocated its headquarters from Park Ridge, Illinois to Washington, D.C. in 2003. In 2010, AFBF sold the domain FB.com to Facebook for an undisclosed amount.[2] On January 11, 2011, the Farm Bureau disclosed 8.5 million in "domain sales income", making the sale of FB.com one of the ten highest-grossing domain sales in history.[3]
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.[4]
Insurance
An organization independent of the Farm Bureau called FBL Financial Group based in Des Moines, Iowa sells insurance under the brand names of Farm Bureau Financial Services and EquiTrust Financial Services. It also uses the Farm Bureau logo.[5]
Climate change
The Farm Bureau does not share the scientific opinion on climate change, with its official position being that "there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment of the exact impact or extent of carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming or how they will affect future climate changes." The climate change session at its 2010 national meeting was entitled "Global Warming: A Red Hot Lie?" and featured climate change skeptic Christopher C. Horner.[6] The Bureau is also opposed to climate change legislation, including the cap and trade measures under consideration in the U.S. Congress, arguing that such measures would increase fuel and fertilizer prices for farmers. At its 2010 national meeting, delegates unanimously approved a resolution that "strongly supports any legislative action that would suspend EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act."[7] The Union of Concerned Scientists sent a letter to the group just prior to its meeting pointing out that its climate change position runs counter to that of every major scientific organization, and urged it to support action on climate on change. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has stated that farmers have more to gain from cap and trade than they stand to lose.[7]
Personnel
- Bob Stallman, President
- Bob Young, Chief Economist
- Mark Maslyn, Executive Director, Public Policy
- Don Lipton, Executive Director, Public Relations
See also
- Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation
- Georgia Farm Bureau Federation
- Illinois Farm Bureau
- Kentucky Farm Bureau
- Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
- Michigan Farm Bureau
- Oklahoma Farm Bureau
- Texas Farm Bureau
- Bluegrass & Backroads
References
- ^ We are Farm Bureau, American Farm Bureau Federation, retrieved December 9, 2011.
- ^ http://www.fb.org/index.php?fuseaction=newsroom.newsfocus&year=2003&file=nr1001.html
- ^ "FB.com acquired by Facebook". January 11, 2011. http://namemon.com/news/1-latest-news/115-fbcom-acquired-by-facebook.
- ^ Classic Thanksgiving Dinner Costing More in 2011, American Farm Bureau Federation, November 10, 2011.
- ^ FBL Financial Group financials, Google Finance, retrieved December 9, 2011.
- ^ Winter, Allison (12 January 2010). "Farm Bureau Fires Back Against Climate Bill's 'Power Grab'". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/11/11climatewire-farm-bureau-fires-back-against-climate-bills-93758.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
- ^ a b Winter, Allison (2010-01-13). "Farm Bureau wants Congress to stop EPA on greenhouse gases". Energy and Environment News. http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2010/01/13/2. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
Further reading
- Barnes, John K. (August 1922). "J. R. Howard, Leader Of American Farmers". The World's Work: A History of Our Time XLIV: 509–518. http://books.google.com/?id=ZW0AAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA509. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: American Farm Bureau Federation |
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Oxford Companion to US History
The Oxford Companion to United States History. © 2001
Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved.
Read more
Mentioned in
FBL Financial Group, Inc.
(Public Company)
pressure group
(in politics)
Employment Act of 1946
(American history)
Intermediate Credit Banks
(American history)
» More