206 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE FARM BUREAU PROGRAM AND ORGANIZATION. 



This year has been particularly fruitful in the advancement made 

 in the formation by the farm bureaus of county and community agricul- 

 tural policies and programs and an organization for putting these pro- 

 grams and policies into effect. In nearly all of the counties there is now 

 a well defined program of work formulated by the people. In putting this 

 program into effect there are three types of committees selected by the 

 people; this form of organization is now in general use and is regarded as 

 fundamental to the more highly developed or special tj^pes of farm bureau 

 organization. These committees are as follows; (a) The County Execu- 

 tive Committee or Board of Directors; (b) The Communitj^ Committees; 

 and (c) The County Project Committees. 



County Executive Committees or County Boards of Directors are now 

 found in practically all of the counties having agents, and in most of the 

 counties these committees are well organized, each member being selected 

 to lead a definite project of the county program. The county program is 

 made by the members of the Farm Bureau at the annual meeting or at 

 special meetings and committeemen are selected on the basis of their in- 

 terest, experience and ability to act as leaders of projects. On this com- 

 mittee are usually represented the interests of the men, women, boj-s and 

 girls, thus making it possible to have a unified program and to coordinate 

 all activities through the Farm Bureau. 



The community is the fundamental unit of the farm bureau organi- 

 zation and program, and special effort is being made to have each com- 

 munity adopt a program and select a committee to direct the work of 

 the program. Encouraging progress has been made in this type of com- 

 munity activity; programs have been formed and committees selected in 

 570 communities. This kind of community effort is resulting in greater in- 

 terest and in more active participation on the part of the people in farm 

 bureau work, and is making possible a much larger degree of service. 



Through this type of organization county project committees are 

 automatically created; the leader of a project on the County Executive 

 Committee becomes chairman of the county project committee and 

 his associates ai'e the community committeemen from the communities 

 that have adopted that particular project. In counties where county 

 project committees have met, outlined their project and provided methods 

 for carrying out the details of the project, good results have been secured. 

 Experience has shown that this is a very good method of doing effective 

 project work on a county-wide basis and that the work of such a committee 

 provides an excellent foundation for a special agricultural association to 

 extend the work of the project. The county project committees cooperat- 

 ing with the County Executive Committee provide the machinery for 

 unifying all the activities of the Farm Bureau and for developing better 

 methods of work, based upon the county-wide experience. 



The value of the farm bureau type of organization has been demon- 

 trated in many ways this year. It discovers and develops the leadership 

 of the people themselves; creates a much greater interest in the work; gives 

 a larger degree of service to more people; coordinates and unifies the agri- 

 cultural activities of the county and of each community of the county, 

 the Agricultural College and the United States Department of Agriculture; 

 gives ^h^ agfint a' carefully selected and interested Board of Directors and 



