Legacies

Leading Montana Ag Towards a Future

As the agricultural industry continued to grow, Montana Farm Bureau stuck to its principles and values to lead Montana toward a future with a prosperous agriculture economy and thriving rural communities. These time-tested principles and values set the stage for Montana Farm Bureau to represent...

Failure Doesn't Have to be Fatal

A decade after hitting a membership high, Farm Bureau fell to a membership low in 1987. This dip caused Farm Bureau to lose its status as the largest agricultural organization in the state of Montana. This era saw a handful of members stand up and commit themselves to the organization and ensure...

Approach and Attitude Dictate Outcome

Farm Bureau members at the time were against the top-down approach of the federal government that pressed into western states. the 1964 Public Land Classification and Multiple Use Act, an increase in grazing fees on federal land and 9 million acres in the west considered for the National Wilderness...

Freedom is a Vessel for Responsibility

No word is mentioned more often in the eleven simple, declarative sentences of the Farm Bureau beliefs than "freedom." Although anytime we want more freedom, it is matched with responsibility for that freedom. From 1947 to 1987, Montana Farm Bureau members were faced with difficult decisions over...

Growth Starts With Good Questions

After Montana's House Bill 273 formally separated Farm Bureau from the Extension Service, a new era set in with lots of questions. By setting up a system to gather answers and put them to use, the stage was set for the traditional Farm Bureau approach to local problem solving: gather the facts,...

Unity Through the Democratic Process

Montana Farm Bureau was growing in both size and scope but lacked the right structure to address issues with state, national and international implications. in 1923, Montana Farm Bureau formed the Committee on Organization to select a manager that would direct and supervise work in the state...

Vitality in Our Rural Communities

Following a severe drought and a crash in market prices that followed World War I, the new agricultural industry that had a prosperous start was already falling apart. It was during this time that Montana's county Farm Bureaus came together during their first state convention and made a commitment...

Empowerment Through Education

A series of momentous laws toward the end of the 19th century and into the 20th propelled agricultural education forward in America. The Morrill Land Grant College Act (1862), Hatch Act (1887) and Smith-Lever Act (1914) lead to bringing land grant university-level research, education and...