462 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



PAPER BY R. A. PEARSON 

 President Iowa State College of Agriculture 



Gentlemen: 



I congratulate you upon the wonderful showing in membership and 

 accomplishment up to this time. 1 do not know of any organized effort 

 relating to any subject that has gone forward so rapidly. To me this in- 

 dicates very clearly that the farmers have faith in the farm bureau move- 

 ment. The organization, they believe, will care for a real need in agri- 

 culture. More than one hundred thousand members in this state repre- 

 sents a very large portion of our total population. What such an organi- 

 zation does will affect the whole state. 



It is proper to recall the different steps which have led to the present 

 strong position of the organization. Before the war county farm bureaus 

 were organized in connection with extension work in about twenty-six 

 counLies. There organizations were developed rapidly and very largely 

 with the encouragement and aid of the county agents and extension work- 

 ers. Before the war about fifty other counties were considering the or- 

 ganization of farm bureaus and plans were more or less advanced in each 

 of these counties. It seems that everyone believed in this movement and 

 wanted to help. During the war all of the remaining counties in Iowa 

 were organized and an announcement was made from Washington that 

 Iowa was the first of all the states to have a farm bureau organized and 

 at work in every county. This was an example and an inspiration to other 

 states. 



A great service was rendered by the county farm bureaus. It was 

 largely due to their encouragement that Iowa, with a decrease of 50,000 

 farm workers, produced an enormous increase of food products. It was 

 largely due to such organizations thruout the whole United States that 

 this country produced about one billion bushels of food crops in 1917 in 

 excess of production in the average pre-war year. 



The benefits of farm bureau organizations co-operating with the agri- 

 cultural extension service, and the agricultural colleges and the federal 

 Department of Agriculture were so well recognized that the federal 

 government made a\ ailable millions of dollars for further developing exten- 

 sion work and organizing and encouraging farm bureaus. States assisted 

 thru appropriations and especially thru aid from the agricultural colleges. 

 Many counties also contributed from their public funds as permitted under 

 our own laws at that time. The strength of farm bureaus today is largely 

 due to this early federal and state support made available thru the 

 extension service. 



The great development of this movement was in response to our 

 country's need for all the food that could be produced. It was necessary 

 to help win the war, and so every loyal citizen was interested in the farm 

 bureau movement. Farmers themselves were interested because thru 

 these organizations they were able to secure and more widely apply the 

 best available information relating to their work. 



The war has been won and many questions have arisen as to what 

 will be the future service of individuals and organizations. In line with 



