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The earliest organizations of farmers began to develop in the late 1800s. Those groups organized under a variety of names and philosophies, including The Grange, The Farmer's Alliance, The Agricultural Wheel, The Ancient Order of Gleaners and the Equity.

The origin of the Farm Bureau followed a different path and didn't occur until shortly after the turn of the century. Farm Bureau grew out of the Extension education movement occurring at land grant colleges across the nation.

The land grant colleges were established under the Morrill Act of 1862. The Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural experiment stations. Each had provisions for "farmer's institutes” and other forms of off campus education for farmers.

The Extension concept, however, did not take root until the early 1900s, when the agricultural colleges developed Extension departments and staff. The devastating boll weevil gave an unexpected boost to the concept of traveling professors and field demonstration projects.

With a financial assist from the Department of Agriculture, Dr. Seaman Knapp took to the road to "teach by doing rather than telling.” The field trials were developed to deal with the boll weevil. It had the effect for the first time of taking the classroom to the farm. Texas has the distinction of assigning the first "county agent.”

In 1911, John Barron, a farm boy who graduated from Cornell University, went to work in Broome County, New York. He was the first county agent to serve as a "farm bureau” representative. The Farm Bureau venture was financed jointly by USDA, the Binghamton Chamber of Commerce and the Lackawanna Railroad.

The new function operated as a "bureau” within the chamber of commerce, hence the name for the early organization. The Broome County Farm Bureau eventually separated from the chamber and began functioning as an independent entity in 1914.

Similar farm organized educational efforts quickly sprang up in Missouri, North Dakota, Vermont, Minnesota, Iowa, West Virginia and Illinois. The passage of the Smith Lever Act in 1914, providing added funds for education efforts, greatly boosted the effort.

The local Farm Bureaus served as the organizational network needed to further the Extension education efforts of the county agent. It was during a 1916 meeting of state county agent leaders that the designation "county farm bureau” was formally adopted.

The county Farm Bureau, or occasionally smaller units called parishes, initially served a social and educational function. But as the farmers met, they realized the broader potential of the new organization.

County Farm Bureaus throughout the nation started forming their own independent organizations similar to Broome County. The counties then quickly affiliated into statewide organizations. In March 1915, Missouri became the first to form a statewide organization.

AFBF is financed primarily by membership dues. People join their state Farm Bureau. State Farm Bureaus have different membership costs, depending on the state. For each member at the state level, the state Farm Bureau sends $3 to support the work of the national organization—the American Farm Bureau. Those membership dues account for about 95 percent of the budget. The rest comes from stock earnings and interest on AFBF cash reserves.

Lobbying Efforts

Conservative vs. Liberal

A HUGE "Thank You" to Lynne Finnerty for providing most of this information!

AFBF does not spend money on lobbying work other than paying the staff members who monitor issues and contact members of Congress and their staff members to keep them informed about AFBF’s policy positions on the issues. AFBF does not make campaign contributions.

AFBF’s policies, in general, tend to be more “conservative” than “liberal.” The members are mostly from rural parts of the country, where the voters are more traditional and conservative. Also, farmers and ranchers are businesspeople. They typically support policies that are pro-business, such as low taxes and minimizing regulations that increase the cost of doing business. However, AFBF are not a partisan group.

How is AFBF Financed?

Political Party Affiliation

AFBF is not aligned with any political party. They are “non-partisan.” Many of the members are fairly conservative, as they support low taxes, voluntary conservation and market-based solutions rather than federally imposed rules and regulations. However, the policy is as often supported by Democrats as by Republicans. For example, AFBF support leaving nutrition programs in the farm bill—a position that is supported by more Democrats than Republicans. AFBF also supports immigration reform (which tends to be supported by more Democrats than Republicans) and has worked with members of Congress from both parties to move that issue forward.

Public Policy

http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?videoId=15cPj8P01J0

Rivals?

AFBF impacts public policy by writing letters to members of Congress and federal agency officials to let them know how legislation or proposed federal rules would affect farmers and ranchers and the agricultural economy. AFBF also has Farm Bureau members—the actual farmers and ranchers themselves—travel to Washington, D.C., to visit with their senators and representatives. The AFBF president and the state Farm Bureau presidents also testify at congressional hearings about agriculture policies and the impacts on farmers. AFBF staff are often in contact with congressional staff about whether Farm Bureau would support specific parts of bills that are being considered. Members of Congress tend to pay attention to whether AFBF supports a bill or not, especially if they represent a rural or agricultural area, because so many of their constituents are involved in agriculture.

AFBF does not have “rivals.” AFBF is the largest national agricultural organization. However, there are others. The National Farmers Union is influential in the upper Midwestern states and with the members of Congress from that region. Several commodity-based groups actively work for policies that benefit producers of specific crops. AFBF often works with these other groups when we agree on an issue, in order to show that the broad spectrum of agricultural organizations is united on the issue. The groups often join together in coalitions.

Background Information

AFBF is very successful. AFBF are approaching their 100 year anniversary. They’ve grown to more than 6 million members. Two of their top issues in 2013 have been passed by both the House and the Senate in a year when Congress was known as a “do-nothing Congress.” AFBF expects the signature piece of legislation for agriculture, the farm bill, to be completed and signed into law in January.

Demographics

The American Farm Bureau Federation(AFBF) is the unified national voice of agriculture working through grassroots organizations to enhance and strengthen the lives of rural Americans and to build strong, prosperous agricultural communities. AFBF speaks up for farmers and ranchers in Congress, in the news media, before regulatory agencies and to the general public. AFBF does for farmers and ranchers what they cannot do alone—coalesce around policy goals and work in Congress and the federal government to implement those policies.

AFBF is made up of the 50 state Farm Bureaus and the Puerto Rico Farm Bureau. There’s even a Hawaii Farm Bureau! Combined, there are more than 6 million Farm Bureau members nationwide.

The Farm Bill

The farm bill helps farmers and ranchers deal with the risks that threaten their ability to produce the food, fiber and fuel we all need.

As Congress begin to debate the 2013 farm bill against a backdrop of decreasing government funding, the American Farm Bureau Federation places a high priority on ensuring the farm bill benefits all agricultural commodity sectors in a balanced, coordinated manner. We will seek balance among all producers’ interests.

The Farm Bureau Is Fighting For:

A strong safety net that covers deep, catastrophic losses that producers can tailor to their farms;

Programs that ensure farmers can respond to market signals;

The protection and improvement of working lands conservation programs;

A cost effective farm bill that makes the necessary budget cuts without saddling farmers and ranchers an unfair share burden.

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