American Agriculturist, November 13,1923 
317 
Farm Bureau—What It Is, What It Does 
Its Purpose Is Not Increased Production, But Better at L jss Cost—A Radio Talk 
By JAY CORYELL 
New York State County Agent Leader 
T HE other day a farmer who had re¬ 
cently moved on a farm in one of our 
New York State counties, asked me 
if there was any place in the county where varies from two to five dollars per year In 
he could go for reliable information which the majority of the counties it is five dollars. 
'‘The work is established in 
Every year sees more attention paid to farm seed 
“'When a community program is made the 
committeemen meet usually at the home of 
the chairman or at the community center. 
They first make a study of the farming of 
the community listing the chief sources of 
income, then deciding what are some of the 
limiting factors. The next step is to study 
~ . i, , --- h° w to solve the problems of this particular 
nlty-five agricultural counties community. Carrying the program through 
have an agent to serve them, to completion is the most important of all. 
in addition thei e are eight as- It is very evident that the county agent can- 
sistants. These men are sup- not do this alone, but must have the support 
plemented in their work by and cooperation of all of the committeemen, 
extension specialists from the Each committeeman acts as a leader in the 
work in which he is particularly interested 
and sees that the program is actually carried 
out in the community. 
- - - “Through these programs of work the 
subjects, and they also work agricultural practices of many communities 
vv ith committees in the coun- have been entirely changed. For example, 
ties assisting them to formu- in certain sections many farmers are grow- 
late plans of work. _ ing improved varieties of oats, corn ahd 
Each county has a definite other grains because of these programs. The 
program of work which is first step was to hold demonstrations where 
made by farmers themselves, the particular variety might be compared 
college of agriculture, who at 
tend meetings of farmers to 
give them the latest informa¬ 
tion on particular agricultural 
would help him solve some of his farm prob- of the import™* IfThe ‘plan! SKiffitekSS 
He^replied ^“Ther^^r^^Tot^of^ * Thr ° Ugh the P artnershi P P lan of operation, improved varieties soon becomes general, be 
things. I want to work out a 
system of farming which will best 
meet the present economic condi¬ 
tions which are unfavorable as 
far as agriculture is concerned. 
It means pretty close figuring as 
we have to look twice before we 
spend a cent. I am thinking of 
using lime. Will it pay? What 
variety of corn will be best for 
my section ? How about fertilizer 
—how much per acre and what 
kind? Also I would like to get 
the best ration to feed my cows 
so as to supplement the feed I 
now have on hand.” 
“Did you ever hear of the 
county agricultural agent?” I in¬ 
quired. “Yes,” he replied, “I 
have heard there is such a man 
in the county, but I don’t know 
much about him. He works in 
connection with the Farm Bu¬ 
reau, doesn’t he?” 
“Yes,” I answered, “Let me 
tell you something about the 
agent and the Farm Bureau and 
how you can use them. 
“The United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture at Washing¬ 
ton, and the State College of Agri¬ 
culture at Ithaca, go into partner¬ 
ship with the farmers of a county 
for the purpose of carrying out 
an educational program of agri¬ 
cultural improvement. The farm¬ 
er’s partner is an organization 
known as the County Farm Bureau Associa¬ 
tion, and is a membership organization open 
to all persons interested in agriculture. The 
Board of Directors of the farm bureau, rep¬ 
resenting the farmers, together with the 
county agent leader, representing the public 
agricultural institutions, employ the county 
agricultural agent who makes his head¬ 
quarters at a convenient point in the county, 
usually the county seat. The- county agent 
must be a man who is thoroughly familiar 
with real farming, but besides this he must 
know the scientific side, having studied four 
years at a college of agriculture. This plan 
establishes a definite agricultural head¬ 
quarters in the county where farmers and 
others may go for information. The work 
is supported through appropriations from 
the Federal, State, and County governments 
and through membership fees. The farm 
bureau membership fee in *New York State 
A community pruning- demonstration, showing- a peach tree before 
and after pruning- 
opportunity is given to combine so-called 
science and practice. In this way the pro¬ 
grams are such that they meet 
the real needs of farmers be¬ 
cause farmers make them and 
have available the assistance 
of trained men. 
“In order that the work 
may be effective, each com¬ 
munity has what is known as 
a community committee. This 
committee is made up of sev¬ 
eral good farmers in each 
community. Each one of the 
committeemen carries out a 
particular line of work and is 
sometimes known as a project 
leadeb, one man taking charge 
of poultry work, another 
dairying, another the fruit 
and so on. 
a word 
cause the farmer buys them from 
a neighbor or other reliable 
source. In much the same way 
demonstrations showing the value 
of the use of lime are established. 
Farmers have a chance to see the 
results on their own farm. In 
this way the use of lime is es¬ 
tablished in the communities. 
“Recently a house to house sur¬ 
vey was made in Chenango 
County to see whether farmers 
were making any use of the agri¬ 
cultural extension work and how 
it could be improved. Hardly a 
farm could be found where some 
of the practices taught by the 
county agent and farm bureau 
had not been made use of. In 
many instances farmers were us¬ 
ing lime and had planted im¬ 
proved varieties of corn as a re¬ 
sult of watching their neighbors, 
but they did not realize that their 
neighbors had learned through 
meetings and demonstrations held 
by the farm bureau. 
“The services of the county 
agent are available to all of the 
people in a county whenever there 
are agricultural problems on 
which a person needs assistance. 
Anyone is free to write, telephone 
or call upon the agent at his office. 
If you want thq agent to go over 
some definite problem on your 
farm you can get this service for 
the asking. A postcard, letter or 
to your community committeeman 
(Continued on page 330) 
Do soy beans pay? Checking up on a demonstration plot 
