Fresno County Farm Bureau
Staff
Fresno County Farm Bureau
Staff
Fresno County Farm Bureau History
Fresno County Farm Bureau History
Founded in 1917, FCFB is an organization dedicated to promoting and protecting agriculture.
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Inspired by a desire among farmers nationwide to unite, first mention of a Farm Bureau organization appeared in 1910 in the state of New York. Local county Farm Bureaus were established in various areas of the country over the next few years. On October 23, 1919, county Farm Bureaus in California formed the California Farm Bureau Federation. The following month, on November 12-13, 1919, the newly formed California Farm Bureau Federation joined with several other state organizations to form the American Farm Bureau Federation.
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The Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which set up the Agriculture Extension Service, stipulated that before a county could obtain farm advisor services, it had to form a general farm organization through which the Extension Service could disseminate information and promote better farming methods. In the fall of 1917, George Fever, J.A. Poytress, Sam Heisinger, H.W. Wrightson and Charles Parlier were among a group of farmers that met with Leroy Smith, the first Extension Service farm advisor assigned to Fresno County, to lay the groundwork for a FCFB organization.
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After one-hundred years, FCFB continues to lead the industry and community in addressing issues that result in long-term economic viability for agriculture in the region, educating farmers and ranchers on critical issues, and keeping the community informed on policies that shape the industry.
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"Farm Bureaus are a natural outgrowth of the desire of American farmers to do two things. First to unite together for mutual self-help and cooperation along any line that may be needed, and second, to get into close and intimate touch with those institutions of public enterprise and of the government which have accumulated the information necessary to make farm life more prosperous."
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- B.H. Crocheron, UC Berkeley Circular No. 209, March 1919