American Farm Bureau Federation

The Farm Bureau movement started in 1911 when John Barron, a farmer who graduated from Cornell University, worked as an extension agent in Broome County, New York. He served as a Farm Bureau representative for farmers with the Chamber of Commerce of Binghamton, New York. The effort was financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Lackawanna Railroad. The Broome County Farm Bureau was soon separated from the Chamber of Commerce. Other farm bureaus later formed in counties across the U.S., as listed with dates at "List of Farm Bureaus".Grant McConnell, The Decline of Agrarian Democracy (U of California Press, 1953), pp 44-54 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520349285-007 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130213148/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520349285-007/html |date=2023-11-30 }}

In 1914, with the passage of the Smith–Lever Act of 1914, Congress agreed to share with the states the cost of programs for providing "county agents", who supplied information to farmers on improved methods of animal husbandry and crop production developed by agricultural colleges and experiment stations, which has evolved into the modern-day Cooperative Extension Service.

In 1915, farmers meeting in Saline County, Missouri, formed the first statewide Farm Bureau.

In 1919, a group of farmers from 30 states gathered in Chicago. They founded the American Farm Bureau Federation with the goal of "speaking for themselves through their own national organization".{{Cite web|url=https://www.delawarecountyfarmbureau.org/about-farm-bureau/|title=About Farm Bureau|website=Delaware County Farm Bureau|access-date=October 18, 2019|archive-date=October 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191018180801/https://www.delawarecountyfarmbureau.org/about-farm-bureau/|url-status=dead}} But they also sought to forestall populist organization of small farmers. "The inception of this national farm bureau association is taking place at a most opportune time," Harvey J. Sconce, president of the Illinois Agricultural Association, said at the meeting. "The United States is at present experiencing the greatest period of industrial unrest in its entire history. It is now just one year since the signing of the armistice. During this interval more than 3,000 strikes have been inaugurated in this country. Is it any wonder that production has dwindled and cost of living has so greatly increased? It is our duty in creating this organization to avoid any policy that will align organized farmers with the radicals of other organizations. The policy should be thoroughly American in every respect – a constructive organization instead of a destructive organization."{{Cite web |last=Campbell |first=Brian Christopher |year=2005 |title=Developing Dependence, Encountering Resistance: The Historical Ethnoecology of Farming in the Missouri Ozarks |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/campbell_brian_c_200505_phd.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226074204/https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/campbell_brian_c_200505_phd.pdf |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=University of Georgia, Athens}} Wrote Brian Campbell, now a professor at Berry College:{{Cite web |title=Berry College - Brian Campbell |url=https://www.berry.edu/academics/fs/bcampbell |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=www.berry.edu |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226075345/https://www.berry.edu/academics/fs/bcampbell |url-status=live }} "Farm Bureau began as a counter-move to various farm organizations that represented small farmers."

The initial organization papers said:

{{Blockquote

|text=The purpose of Farm Bureau is to make the business of farming more profitable, and the community a better place to live. Farm Bureau should provide an organization in which members may secure the benefits of unified efforts in a way that could never be accomplished through individual effort.

|author=The statement originally approved by Farm Bureau members in 1920.

|source=}}

The initial local and state farm bureaus (1910s–1940s) had a social and educational function furthering the extension service efforts, and they also pursued the functions of pooled negotiating power for purchasing of supplies such as seed and equipment (comparable in that respect to farm co-operatives, but with potential for larger/wider unification). The bureaus also pooled capability to provide fire insurance and vehicle insurance for their farms, via both negotiating power (in group purchasing of insurance) and self-insuring capability (in forming new insurance companies of their own); they were comparable in that respect to mutual insurance companies (and indeed founded various such companies). In all of these functions, local and state farm bureaus thus became an analogue of a farmers' union or a trade association for farmers in the United States; the National Farmers Union was the other such effort, outside of small co-ops. More precisely, the local and state farm bureaus formed a network of such unions or associations with a national parent organization. They were thus somewhat analogous in that respect to a federation of trade unions (such as the AFL–CIO) – but with individual family farms being self-employed, the parallel with trade associations is the more relevant analogy.

In the 1930s, the American Farm Bureau Federation developed a lobbying presence in Washington, D.C.,{{Cite book |last=Hansen |first=John Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5GC4nSszSKgC |title=Gaining Access: Congress and the Farm Lobby, 1919-1981 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-226-31556-0 |language=en |access-date=2023-11-30 |archive-date=2023-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422220113/https://books.google.com/books?id=5GC4nSszSKgC |url-status=live }} where it pushed for changes in New Deal programs to favor large farms with many employees over family farms. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party (FLP), a political party which represented small operators and favored radical programs, was left without power by the New Deal policies, and so in the 1940s the FLP and similar groups in the upper Midwest died or were merged into the Democratic or Republican parties.Richard M. Valelly, Radicalism in the states : the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party and the American political economy (1989) p. 15.

Along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Farm Bureau and other "advocates of a mechanized, highly commercialized agriculture helped initiate an abrupt two-decade shift to machines and wage labor." By World War II, the organization was "the most influential representative of large farmers."{{Cite journal|last=Daniel|first=Pete|date=1990|title=Going among Strangers: Southern Reactions to World War II|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2078990|journal=The Journal of American History|volume=77|issue=3|pages=886–911|doi=10.2307/2078990|jstor=2078990|issn=0021-8723|access-date=2023-11-30|archive-date=2023-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412202542/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2078990|url-status=live}}

In a study of the organization's New Deal period during the 1930s, Christian McFayden Cambell concluded that it was "...largely controlled from the top. Its leadership is self-perpetuating, and its policy, although nursed through an elaborate procedural labyrinth, is rarely permitted to wander very far afield. 'The Farm Bureau's cherished belief that its policy was made at the grass roots and adopted by democratic process turned out to be partly illusion,' concluded Christiana McFayden Cambell in her study of the organization's New Deal period.{{Cite book |last=Cambell |first=Christiana McFayden |title=The Farm Bureau and the New Deal |publisher=Urbana: University of Illinois Press |year=1962 |pages=16}} There appears to be no reason to change that assessment today," Samuel R. Berger wrote in Dollar Harvest (2nd ed., 1978).{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Samuel R. |url=http://archive.org/details/dollarharveststo0000berg |title=Dollar harvest; the story of the Farm Bureau |publisher=Lexington, Mass., Heath Lexington Books |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-669-63735-9 |edition=2nd |page=129}}

By the 21st century, the AFBF, through its state and local affiliates, was entwined financially with large agribusiness corporations. "In recent years, its insurance affiliates have bought stock in companies like Cargill, ConAgra, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Tyson and Archer Daniels Midland, all major food industry players. The Southern Farm Bureau Annuity Insurance Co. [co-owned by 10 state Farm BureausThe Southern Farm Bureau Annuity Insurance Co. is owned in equal shares by the Arkansas Farm Bureau Investment Corporation, Florida Farm Bureau Holding Corporation, Georgia Farm Bureau Federation Holding Co. Inc., Kentucky Farm Bureau Investment Corporation, Louisiana Farm Bureau Investment Corporation, Mississippi Farm Bureau Investment Corporation, North Carolina Farm Bureau Investment Corporation, South Carolina Farm Bureau Investment Corporation, Texas Farm Bureau Investment Corporation and Virginia Farm Bureau Holding Corporation. Controlling interest in each of these holding or investment corporations is owned by the relevant state Farm Bureau.{{Cite web |date=September 3, 2019 |title=FORM N-4 / Southern Farm Bureau Life Variable Account |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1086711/000110465919048383/a19-17633_1485bpos.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225042246/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1086711/000110465919048383/a19-17633_1485bpos.htm |archive-date=February 25, 2023 |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}] once owned more than 18,000 shares of Premium Standard stock," The Nation wrote in 2012.

Bob Stallman, a Texan, served as AFBF president from 2001 to 2016,{{Cite web |last=Haire |first=Brad |date=November 10, 2015 |title=Why does Zippy Duvall want to be the American Farm Bureau president? |url=https://www.farmprogress.com/peanut/why-does-zippy-duvall-want-to-be-the-american-farm-bureau-president- |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=Farm Progress |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226032018/https://www.farmprogress.com/peanut/why-does-zippy-duvall-want-to-be-the-american-farm-bureau-president- |url-status=live }} earning a salary of $832,216 in his final year.{{Cite web |date=September 4, 2019 |title=Average farm organization CEO pay topping $500K |url=https://www.agri-pulse.com/ext/resources/Archives-Newsletters/09042019.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226081605/https://www.agri-pulse.com/ext/resources/Archives-Newsletters/09042019.pdf |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=Agri-Pulse}} Duval took over in January 2017,{{Cite web |title=Zippy Duval / President, American Farm Bureau Federation |url=https://connectednation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Duvall-Bio-w-Headshot-February-2018-1.pdf |access-date=February 26, 2023 |website=Connected Nation |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408165806/https://connectednation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Duvall-Bio-w-Headshot-February-2018-1.pdf |url-status=dead }} earning a salary of $648,111 in his first year.

In 2020, around 500 dairy farmers and haulers received letters demanding repayment (for up to $50,000) for milk shipped to Dean Foods, just before the company filed for bankruptcy (it was subsequently acquired by Dairy Farmers of America).{{Cite web |title=American Farm Bureau & others advising farmers not to pay back Dean Foods |url=https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/american-farm-bureau-others-advising-farmers-not-to-pay-back-dean-foods/ |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=Brownfield Ag News |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710133548/https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/american-farm-bureau-others-advising-farmers-not-to-pay-back-dean-foods/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Farm groups stand up for farmers in predatory shakedown by Dean Foods Estate |url=https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2020/12/07/dean-foods-estate-threatens-farmers-legal-action-past-payments/3855267001/ |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=Wisconsin State Farmer |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710133549/https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2020/12/07/dean-foods-estate-threatens-farmers-legal-action-past-payments/3855267001/ |url-status=live }} AFBF, which called the demands a "predatory shakedown", was one of several groups that provided legal assistance to the farmers and haulers.

In 2023, AFBF announced several memorandums of understanding with equipment manufacturers, establishing repair agreements that make manufacturers' tools, software, and manuals available to farmers under "fair and reasonable" terms so farmers can make needed repairs.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-19 |title=AFBF Reaches Right-to-Repair Deal With Case IH, New Holland Equipment |url=https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2023/03/09/afbf-reaches-right-repair-deal-case |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=DTN Progressive Farmer |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522015007/https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2023/03/09/afbf-reaches-right-repair-deal-case |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Clayton |first=Chris |date=2023-05-22 |title=AFBF Reaches Right-to-Repair Deal With Case IH, New Holland Equipment |url=https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2023/03/09/afbf-reaches-right-repair-deal-case |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522015007/https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/equipment/article/2023/03/09/afbf-reaches-right-repair-deal-case |archive-date=2023-05-22 |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=DTN Progressive Farmer}} Under these, AFBF also agrees not to lobby on right to repair legislation, and to “encourage state-level Farm Bureaus to recognize the commitments made in the MOU and refrain from promoting “right to repair” legislation at the state or federal level”.{{Cite web |title=AFBF inks more 'right to repair' agreements {{!}} Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. |url=https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/19030-afbf-inks-more-right-to-repair-agreements |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=www.agri-pulse.com |language=en |archive-date=2023-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507015818/https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/19030-afbf-inks-more-right-to-repair-agreements |url-status=live }} In January, MOUs were signed with John Deere and in March, with CNH Industrial, Case IH and New Holland Agriculture.{{Cite web |title=AFBF, John Deere announce right-to-repair agreement |url=https://www.farmprogress.com/farming-equipment/afbf-john-deere-announce-right-to-repair-agreement |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=Farm Progress |language=en |archive-date=2023-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309175810/https://www.farmprogress.com/farming-equipment/afbf-john-deere-announce-right-to-repair-agreement |url-status=live }}

A 2012 investigation by The Nation detailed the large-scale federal and state political operations of the Farm Bureau, and alleged the Bureau recruited political candidates (mostly Republicans) to affect legislative elections and appointments to state committees.{{Cite news |last=Shearn |first=Ian T. |date=July 16, 2012 |title=Whose Side Is the American Farm Bureau On? |magazine=The Nation |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/whose-side-american-farm-bureau/ |access-date=August 16, 2022 |issn=0027-8378 |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817021840/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/whose-side-american-farm-bureau/ |url-status=live }}

As of 2012, the organization retains 22 registered lobbyists. From 2002 to 2012, the Farm Bureau spent $16 million, which was 45% of the total amount spent by the 10 largest agribusiness interests in the U.S.

The Farm Bureau supported the Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2014 (H.R. 4719; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the federal tax laws to permanently extend and expand certain expired provisions that provided a bigger tax deduction for businesses that donated food to charitable organizations.{{cite web|title=CBO - H.R. 4719|date=5 June 2014|url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45425|publisher=Congressional Budget Office|access-date=15 July 2014|archive-date=15 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715014005/https://www.cbo.gov/publication/45425|url-status=live}} The Farm Bureau argued that without the tax write-off, "it is cheaper in most cases for these types of businesses to throw their food away than it is to donate the food".{{cite web|url=http://fbnews.fb.org/FBNews/Top_News/Fighting_Hunger_Incentive_Act_will_increase_food_bank_donations.aspx|title=Fighting Hunger Incentive Act will increase food bank donations|date=10 June 2014|publisher=Farm Bureau News|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725001739/http://fbnews.fb.org/FBNews/Top_News/Fighting_Hunger_Incentive_Act_will_increase_food_bank_donations.aspx|archive-date=25 July 2014|access-date=16 July 2014}}

The Farm Bureau has lobbied for increases in federal subsidies for crop insurance, which "is a small, but significant piece of Farm Bureau insurance companies’ portfolio. In 2011, they collected over $300 million in crop insurance premiums", The Nation wrote in 2012.

The Farm Bureau has long opposed regulation or taxation of greenhouse gases and climate policy, justifying its actions by denying the scientific consensus on climate change. "For decades, the Farm Bureau has derailed climate action, deploying its political apparatus and 6 million members in a forceful alliance with conservative groups and the fossil fuel industry," Inside Climate News wrote in 2018.{{Cite web |last=Gustin |first=Georgina |date=2018-10-24 |title=How the Farm Bureau's Climate Agenda Is Failing Its Farmers |url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24102018/farm-bureau-climate-change-denial-farmers-crop-insurance-subsidies-drought-future-at-risk/ |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=Inside Climate News |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015060730/https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24102018/farm-bureau-climate-change-denial-farmers-crop-insurance-subsidies-drought-future-at-risk/ |url-status=live }}

In 2003, Farm Bureau economists joined the Heartland and Hudson Institutes in publishing a paper that "called state or federal regulation of greenhouse gases 'unnecessary, enormously expensive, and particularly injurious to the agricultural community.{{'"}}

In 2010, the Farm Bureau's official position was that "there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment of the exact impact or extent of carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming or how they will affect future climate changes".{{Cite web |title=Scientists Ask Farm Bureau to Recognize Climate Change |url=https://www.newswise.com/articles/scientists-ask-farm-bureau-to-recognize-climate-change |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=www.newswise.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015060714/https://www.newswise.com/articles/scientists-ask-farm-bureau-to-recognize-climate-change |url-status=live }} The climate change session at the Farm Bureau's national meeting that year was entitled "Global Warming: A Red Hot Lie?" It featured Christopher C. Horner,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/11/11climatewire-farm-bureau-fires-back-against-climate-bills-93758.html?pagewanted=all|title=Farm Bureau Fires Back Against Climate Bill's 'Power Grab'|last=Winter|first=Allison|date=12 January 2010|work=The New York Times|access-date=13 January 2010|archive-date=13 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313182047/http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/11/11climatewire-farm-bureau-fires-back-against-climate-bills-93758.html?pagewanted=all|url-status=live}} a climate change denier and lawyer for the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, a largely industry-backed group that strongly opposes limits on greenhouse gases.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/science/earth/13book.html|title=Challenges to Both Left and Right on Global Warming|date=13 November 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=30 November 2023|archive-date=16 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116022407/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/science/earth/13book.html|url-status=live}} At the meeting, delegates unanimously approved a resolution that "strongly supports any legislative action that would suspend EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act".{{cite news|url=http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2010/01/13/2|title=Farm Bureau wants Congress to stop EPA on greenhouse gases|last=Winter|first=Allison|date=2010-01-13|publisher=Energy and Environment News|access-date=13 January 2010}} Right before the meeting, the Union of Concerned Scientists sent the group a letter pointing out that its climate change position runs counter to that of every major scientific organization and urged it to support action on climate change. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said that farmers have more to gain from cap and trade than they stand to lose.

By 2019, the Farm Bureau had ceased to publicly deny climate change, but remained opposed to non-market-based solutions, including opposing taxes on carbon uses or emissions. Politico called it a “longtime, powerful foe of federal action on climate."{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2019 |title=How a closed-door meeting shows farmers are waking up on climate change |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/09/farmers-climate-change-074024 |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=Politico |language=en |archive-date=2019-12-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209141951/https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/09/farmers-climate-change-074024 |url-status=live }}

In 2020, the Farm Bureau became one of four co-founders of the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), a coalition of groups advocating for voluntary, incentive-based and market-oriented programs in the food and agriculture sector to respond to climate change.{{Cite news |title=Farmers Are Warming Up To The Fight Against Climate Change |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/11/20/936603967/farmers-are-warming-up-to-the-fight-against-climate-change |access-date=2022-10-08 |archive-date=2022-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009174858/https://www.npr.org/2020/11/20/936603967/farmers-are-warming-up-to-the-fight-against-climate-change |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2023-02-23 |title=Farm bill should broaden climate mitigation, land stewardship, says FACA |url=https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/farm-bill-should-broaden-climate-mitigation-land-stewardship-says-faca |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Successful Farming |language=en |archive-date=2023-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413160803/https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/farm-bill-should-broaden-climate-mitigation-land-stewardship-says-faca |url-status=live }} The coalition's website says its 80-plus member organizations represent "farmers, ranchers, forest owners, agribusinesses, manufacturers, the food and innovation sector, state governments, sportsmen, and environmental advocates", who cooperate to "develop and promote shared climate policy priorities across the entire agriculture, food and forestry value chains.{{Cite web |title=Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance |url=https://agclimatealliance.com/ |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209090121/https://agclimatealliance.com/ |url-status=live }} While The New Republic reported in 2022 that the organization "wants guarantees that farmers will get paid for soil sequestration without anything else in agricultural business-as-usual changing",{{Cite magazine |last1=Hope-D’Anieri |first1=Charlie |date=2021-04-02 |title=The Farming Lobby's Cunning Plan to Fight Climate Change—and Regulation |magazine=The New Republic |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/161926/farming-lobby-cunning-plan-fight-climate-changeand-regulation |access-date=2022-10-09 |issn=0028-6583 |archive-date=2022-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009192745/https://newrepublic.com/article/161926/farming-lobby-cunning-plan-fight-climate-changeand-regulation |url-status=live }} FACA has called for “a comprehensive effort involving financial and technical assistance, research investments, proactive response to innovation, public-private partnerships, and a commitment to equitable opportunities for all producers” to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.{{Cite web |date=2023-02-23 |title=Farm bill should broaden climate mitigation, land stewardship, says FACA |url=https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/farm-bill-should-broaden-climate-mitigation-land-stewardship-says-faca |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=Successful Farming |language=en |archive-date=2023-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417083839/https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/farm-bill-should-broaden-climate-mitigation-land-stewardship-says-faca |url-status=live }}

In 2022, FACA and AFBF supported the Senate's passing of the Growing Climate Solutions Act.{{Cite web |last=Rice |first=Ashley |title=AFBF celebrates Senate passage of climate bill |url=https://www.farmweeknow.com/policy/national/afbf-celebrates-senate-passage-of-climate-bill/article_644ce610-d509-11eb-be48-fff03ceee159.html |access-date=2023-04-07 |website=FarmWeek Now |date=24 June 2021 |language=en |archive-date=2023-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407012911/https://www.farmweeknow.com/policy/national/afbf-celebrates-senate-passage-of-climate-bill/article_644ce610-d509-11eb-be48-fff03ceee159.html |url-status=live }} In February 2023, FACA released policy recommendations for the 2023 farm bill, calling for voluntary bipartisan climate solutions.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-12 |title=The 2023 Farm Bill: Impacts, What to Expect, and How to Prepare |url=https://fiscalnote.com/blog/2023-farm-bill |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=FiscalNote |language=en |archive-date=2023-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605024002/https://fiscalnote.com/blog/2023-farm-bill |url-status=live }} The recommendations included incentives for farmers to plant cover crops and use precision agriculture equipment that more efficiently uses fertilizers and pesticides; a USDA grant program to improve soil health; a study to look for barriers to climate-smart practices in the crop insurance program; and changes to income limits so that all farmers can participate in “landscape level projects” to advance conservation and climate goals.{{Cite web |last=Hokanson |first=Kaytlin |date=2023-02-28 |title=FACA Releases Farm Bill Policy Recommendations |url=https://www.westernagreporter.com/articles/faca-releases-farm-bill-policy-recommendations/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Western Ag Reporter |archive-date=2023-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605024001/https://www.westernagreporter.com/articles/faca-releases-farm-bill-policy-recommendations/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Hageman Jones |first=Markie |date=2023-05-31 |title=Environmental groups try to steer farm bill conversations |url=https://www.agdaily.com/insights/environmental-groups-try-to-steer-farm-bill-conversations/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=AGDAILY |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605024002/https://www.agdaily.com/insights/environmental-groups-try-to-steer-farm-bill-conversations/ |url-status=live }}

The AFBF was heavily involved in lobbying for the 2012 farm bill, which included $9 billion in federal subsidies for crop insurance.[https://web.archive.org/web/20190608071623/https://thefern.org/2012/06/crop-insurance-a-boon-to-farmers-and-insurers-too/ Crop Insurance a Boon to Farmers – And Insurers, too], Published June 18, 2012. Archived June 8, 2019.

In 2022, the Farm Bureau joined the National Pork Producers Council in petitioning the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn California's Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross.{{cite news |title=Supreme Court to Review California Prop 12 |url=https://www.natlawreview.com/article/supreme-court-to-review-california-prop-12 |access-date=12 September 2022 |work=The National Law Review |language=en |archive-date=12 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912205858/https://www.natlawreview.com/article/supreme-court-to-review-california-prop-12 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Supreme Court to consider California rules regarding treatment of pigs |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/supreme-court-pork-warhol/ |access-date=12 September 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330205235/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/supreme-court-pork-warhol/ |url-status=live }}

In 2023, AFBF was one of several organizations to legally challenge the new Waters of the United States rule.{{Cite web |last=Beach |first=Jeff |date=2023-01-19 |title=Farm Bureau, other ag groups sue over new WOTUS definition |url=https://www.agweek.com/news/policy/farm-bureau-other-ag-groups-sue-over-new-wotus-definition |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=Agweek |language=en |archive-date=2023-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508153836/https://www.agweek.com/news/policy/farm-bureau-other-ag-groups-sue-over-new-wotus-definition |url-status=live }}

In addition to its political lobbying, the Farm Bureau is "a multi-billion dollar network of for-profit insurance companies" and the third-largest insurance group in the United States, The Nation wrote in 2012. Although AFBF itself does not sell insurance, all but a handful of its non-profit state affiliates have affiliated for-profit insurance companies. Most of these companies were founded by the state Farm Bureaus and retain "Farm Bureau" in their corporate names; some use the NFBF logo.{{Cite web |title=About American Farm Bureau Insurance Services - AFBIS, INC. |url=https://www.farmbureausellscropinsurance.com/about/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=American Farm Bureau Insurance Services, Inc |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209162554/https://www.farmbureausellscropinsurance.com/about/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=About FBL Financial Group, Inc. |publisher=Farm Bureau Financial Services |url=https://www.fbfs.com/about-us/about-fblfinancial |access-date=2023-02-10 |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210060408/https://www.fbfs.com/about-us/about-fblfinancial |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Our Company |publisher=Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance |url=https://www.infarmbureau.com/company |access-date=2023-02-10 |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210214245/https://www.infarmbureau.com/company |url-status=live }} "In many states, Missouri among them, members of the Farm Bureau board and the board of its affiliated insurance company are one and the same, sharing office buildings and support staff," The Nation wrote.

In many states, the non-profit state Farm Bureau owns the affiliated for-profit insurance company.{{Cite web |last1=Monks |first1=Vicki |last2=Ferris |first2=Robert M. |last3=Campbell |first3=Don |date=April 2000 |title=Amber Waves of Gain |url=https://defenders.org/sites/default/files/publications/amber_waves_of_gain.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217033654/https://defenders.org/sites/default/files/publications/amber_waves_of_gain.pdf |archive-date=February 17, 2023 |access-date=April 19, 2023 |website=Defenders of Wildlife}}{{Cite web |last1=Chadde |first1=Sky |first2=Eli |last2=Hoff |first3=Mark |last3=Ossolinski |date=2021-10-07 |title=The Iowa Farm Bureau is a small nonprofit. It's sitting on a huge business empire. |url=http://investigatemidwest.org/2021/10/07/the-iowa-farm-bureau-is-a-small-nonprofit-its-sitting-on-a-huge-business-empire/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Investigate Midwest |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210183708/https://investigatemidwest.org/2021/10/07/the-iowa-farm-bureau-is-a-small-nonprofit-its-sitting-on-a-huge-business-empire/ |url-status=live }} FBL Financial Group, for example, was established in 1939 as Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company by the Iowa chapter of the Farm Bureau.{{Cite web |title=FBLFinancial.co history - Retrieved March 4, 2013 |url=http://www.fblfinancial.com/history.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107012612/http://www.fblfinancial.com/history.cfm |archive-date=January 7, 2008 |access-date=November 29, 2007 |df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web |date=2008-01-07 |title=FBL Financial Group, Inc. - FBL Financial Group History |url=http://www.fblfinancial.com/history.cfm |access-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107012612/http://www.fblfinancial.com/history.cfm |archive-date=2008-01-07 }} Through expansion and mergers, FBL has grown to operate in 14 states, generally selling to consumers under the name Farm Bureau Financial Services.{{Cite web |title=Company Information |publisher=Farm Bureau Financial Services |url=https://www.fbfs.com/about-us/company-information |access-date=2023-02-10 |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210060406/https://www.fbfs.com/about-us/company-information |url-status=live }} In 2022, it had profits of $72.51 million on revenues of $732.3 million.{{Cite web |date=February 10, 2023 |title=FFG Stock Forecast, Price & News (FBL Financial Group) |url=https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NYSE/FFG/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210054828/https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NYSE/FFG/ |archive-date=February 10, 2023 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=www.marketbeat.com |language=en}} Its parent, the Iowa Farm Bureau, reported 2020 revenue of about $100 million and an investment portfolio worth more than $1 billion, while executive compensation was in the high six figures."

Similarly, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company began as an insurance company for members of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and today serves as an insurance provider to Farm Bureaus in nine states.{{cite web |title=New York Farm Bureau and Nationwide Insurance announce Strategic Partnership |url=http://www.nyfb.org/resources/topic_detail.cfm?ID=455 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128165514/http://www.nyfb.org/resources/topic_detail.cfm?ID=455 |archive-date=2012-01-28 |publisher=New York Farm Bureau}} Farm Family Insurance, founded in 1955 by Farm Bureaus of several northeastern states,{{Cite web |title=History of Farm Family Holdings, Inc. |publisher=FundingUniverse |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/farm-family-holdings-inc-history/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210061237/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/farm-family-holdings-inc-history/ |url-status=live }} had 2000 revenues of $313 million and assets of more than $1.3 billion.{{Cite web |date=2001-04-11 |title=American National Completes Acquisition of |url=https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2001/04/12/13910.htm |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Insurance Journal |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210060211/https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2001/04/12/13910.htm |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=April 7, 1999 |title=Farm Family Holdings purchases farm bureau organization insurance company |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/1999/04/05/daily11.html |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Albany Business Journal |archive-date=2006-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208010407/http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/1999/04/05/daily11.html |url-status=live }} Country Financial, founded by the Illinois Farm Bureau in 1925, served clients in 17 states as of 2017.{{Cite web |date=July 4, 2014 |title=Connection between Illinois Farm Bureau and COUNTRY Financial |url=http://www.ilfb.org/CF/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818020311/http://www.ilfb.org/CF/ |archive-date=August 18, 2017 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Illinois Farm Bureau}}

"The Farm Bureau has many for-profit interests outside of traditional farming," 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace reported in 2000. "Its Iowa chapter alone owns and operates a $3.5 billion insurance and financial services company that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. That company, FBL Financial Group, gave thousands of stock options to its directors, including the presidents of 14 state Farm Bureaus."{{Cite web |date=April 6, 2000 |title=The Farm Bureau's Big Business |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-farm-bureaus-big-business/ |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=CBS News |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226023929/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-farm-bureaus-big-business/ |url-status=live }} Ed Wiederstein, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau and chairman of FBL Financial, cashed in a "couple of hundred thousand bucks from stock options" in 1998.

The American Agricultural Insurance Company was formed in 1948 as a capital stock company. It is owned by the “insurance company affiliates of various state Farm Bureau insurance companies and by AFBF.”It was reincorporated in 1954, and became a mutual carrier under the name American Agricultural Mutual Insurance Company, and then was reincorporated again in 1968 as a capital stock company under its current name.

The Farm Bureau also owns crop insurer American Farm Bureau Insurance Services, formed in 1995.{{Cite web |title=American Farm Bureau Insurance Services |url=https://cropinsuranceinamerica.org/american-farm-bureau-insurance-services/ |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=Crop Insurance Keeps America Growing |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230612112423/https://cropinsuranceinamerica.org/american-farm-bureau-insurance-services/ |url-status=live }} AAIC began selling crop insurance in 1997.{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.aaic.com/about-us/our-history/ |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=American Agricultural Insurance Company |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226031340/https://www.aaic.com/about-us/our-history/ |url-status=live }} In 1999, the AAIC purchased Nationwide-Re as part of its plan to expand into Non-Farm Bureau premium writings. The AAIC is a reinsurer primarily assuming business from Farm Bureau insurance companies.

The company’s bylaws require its board of directors to include the president of the Federation and designated shareholders that are “affiliated with a state Farm Bureau organization that is a member of AFBF.”

Similarly, AFBF president Zippy Duval simultaneously serves as president and chairman of the board of American Agricultural Insurance Company,{{Cite web |title=Annual Statement for the Year Ended December 31, 2021 of the Condition and Affairs of the American Agricultural Insurance Company |url=https://www.aaic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/AmericanAg-Annual-Statement-2021.pdf |access-date=February 25, 2023 |website=American Agricultural Insurance Company |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226031944/https://www.aaic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/AmericanAg-Annual-Statement-2021.pdf |url-status=live }} whose directors are the presidents of 16 of the state Farm Bureaus.{{Cite web |date=December 31, 2018 |title=State of Indiana: Department of Insurance: Report of Examination of American Agricultural Insurance Company |url=https://www.in.gov/idoi/files/American-Agriculture-Insurance-Company-2018.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226035642/https://www.in.gov/idoi/files/American-Agriculture-Insurance-Company-2018.pdf |archive-date=February 26, 2023 |access-date=February 25, 2023 |website=State of Indiana}} Its common stock is held by AFBF (443 shares in 2018) and various state Farm Bureau insurance companies (a total of 265,830 shares in 2018); it is unclear who owns its premium stock, which has a par value ten times that of the common stock. In 2021, AAIC reported total assets of $1.8 billion (up from $1.35 billion in 2018), premiums of $464 million (up from $328 million in 2018), and cash on hand of $120 million.

These kinds of ties can create conflicts of interest. "Nonprofit executives are supposed to operate in the best interest of the nonprofit, not themselves. But, by not taking salaries and having their income tied to FBL’s performance, the [Iowa] Farm Bureau’s executives open themselves up to questions," wrote Investigate Midwest, an independent, nonprofit newsroom.

The AFBF and its affiliated insurance companies are entwined in other ways as well. Most of the people it claims as "members" are not farmers but insurance customers: "In many states, anyone who signs up for Farm Bureau insurance becomes a member of the Farm Bureau automatically, which explains why the American Farm Bureau Federation boasts 6 million members when the United States has only about 2 million farmers." Sometimes annual-dues-paying membership in a state Farm Bureau is required to purchase the insurance;{{Cite web |title=American Farm Bureau Fed. v. Ala. Farmers Fed., 935 F. Supp. 1533 {{!}} Casetext Search + Citator |url=https://casetext.com/case/american-farm-bureau-fed-v-ala-farmers-fed |access-date=2023-02-24 |website=casetext.com |archive-date=2023-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224161909/https://casetext.com/case/american-farm-bureau-fed-v-ala-farmers-fed |url-status=live }} sometimes the insurance companies pay the state or county Farm Bureau a fee per member to access their contact information for marketing purposes. In 2019, AFBF collected $28.4 million in member dues, which accounted for more than three-quarters of its total revenue of $37.6 million.{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Andrea Suozzo, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Brandon |date=2013-05-09 |title=AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION - Form Form 990-O for period ending Nov 2019 - Nonprofit Explorer |url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/360725160/06_2021_prefixes_35-36/360725160_201911_990O_2021060818288197 |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=ProPublica |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214031536/https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/360725160/06_2021_prefixes_35-36%2F360725160_201911_990O_2021060818288197 |url-status=live }}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Barnes |first=John K. |date=August 1922 |title=J. R. Howard, Leader Of American Farmers |journal=The World's Work: A History of Our Time |volume=XLIV |pages=509–518 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW0AAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA509 |access-date=2009-08-04 }}
• Berger, Samuel R.: Dollar Harvest: An Exposé of the Farm Bureau. (AAM Publications, 1978)
• Berlage, Nancy K. "Organizing the farm bureau: Family, community, and professionals, 1914-1928." Agricultural history 75.4 (2001): 406–437. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3745183 online]
• {{Cite web|url=https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/04/farm-bureau-is-no-backer-of-climate-science/|title=Farm Bureau shows little concern about climate change ag effects|last=Campbell|first=SueEllen|date=2019-04-16|website=Yale Climate Connections|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-12}}
• Campbell, B.C. (2005) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20230226074204/https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/campbell_brian_c_200505_phd.pdf Developing Dependence, Encountering Resistance: The Historical Ethnoecology of Farming in the Missouri Ozarks]." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens.
• 60 Minutes (April 6, 2000): "[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-farm-bureaus-big-business/ The Farm Bureau's Big Business]"
• Defenders of Wildlife: "[https://defenders.org/sites/default/files/publications/amber_waves_of_gain.pdf Amber Waves of Gain]" (April 2000)
• Food and Water Watch: "[https://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/FWW_FarmBureau.pdf The Farm Bureau’s Billions: The Voice of Farmers or Agribusiness]?" (July 2010)
• Hansen, John Mark. Gaining access: Congress and the farm lobby, 1919-1981 (U of Chicago Press, 1991). online
• McConnell, Grant. The Decline of Agrarian Democracy (U of California Press, 1953), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520349285-007 [https://archive.org/details/declineofagraria0000mcco online]
• Porter, Kimberly K. "Embracing the pluralist perspective: the Iowa farm Bureau federation and the McNary-haugen movement." Agricultural history 74.2 (2000): 381–392. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3744859 online]

{{Commons category|American Farm Bureau Federation}}

• {{official website|https://www.fb.org/}}
• [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/360725160 Links] to the AFBF's IRS Form 990 tax filings: 2005-2020
• [https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00313 Guide to the North Carolina Farm Bureau Records 1936-2012]

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