PART V 



Report of Secretary of the Iowa Farm Bureau 



Federation . 



/. W. Coverdale 



The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is the direct result of the 

 team work done by the individual Farm Bureaus during the war 

 period in helping stimulate food production and food conservation. 

 The united action taken by the different County Farm Bureaus in 

 distributing the scant supply of seed corn of the spring of 1918, the 

 Farm Bureau exchange for the distribution and marketing of special 

 crops, the distribution of labor and the stabilization of the seed corn 

 prices, and especially the corn husking prices of 1918, are directly 

 responsible for the Federation. Many of the counties began agitat- 

 ing State and National organization two years ago, but sufficient 

 strength did not develop until the corn husking was over last fall, 

 and in the signing of the armistice it was apparent that the farmers 

 needed organization for the reconstruction period as they had never 

 needed it before. So on December 27, 1918, at Marshalltown, Iowa, 

 seventy-two of the one hundred Farm Bureaus had delegates present, 

 and ten other counties sent proxies favoring State organization. 



The object of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is not to dis- 

 place or run counter with any organization now existing, but rather 

 to develop, strengthen, and correlate the work of the County Farm 

 Bureaus of the State ; to encourage and promote co-operation of all 

 representative agricultural organizations in every effort to improve 

 facilities and conditions for the economic and efificient production, 

 conservation, marketing, transportation and distribution of farm 

 products ; to further the study of the constructive agricultural legis- 

 lation ; to advise with farm bureaus in all movements that affect their 

 interests. 



In order to carry out the objects of the Federation it was neces- 

 sary to appoint an Organization Committee, a Marketing and Trans- 

 portation Committee, a committee on Legislation and Representa- 

 tion, and a committee on Education. They adopted the following 

 program of work : 



