Farm Bureau scrapbooks, New York State

Between 1911 and 1918, Farm Bureaus were organized by Cornell's College of Agriculture in most rural counties in New York State, before 1914 with the assistance of Sears Roebuck, railroads, chambers of commerce, and other business groups, after 1914 with federal aid provided under the Smith-Lever Act. In 1918, these bureaus and those which had been organized simultaneously in other states organized nationally as the American Farm Bureau Federation. Within New York, the county farm bureaus were organized as the New York State Farm Bureau Federation. The integration of Cooperative Extension and the Farm Bureaus continued in New York State into the 1950s, when separation was mandated by the federal government.