National Farmers Marks 70-Year Anniversary

In the early 1950s, the systematic dismantling of reasonable government farm programs led to a collapse in commodity prices. In 1953, Congress passed legislation that discontinued the 90 percent parity minimum price levels for agricultural commodities. The end of parity pricing caused dramatic drops in both grain and livestock prices.

National Farmers began when a few farmers from northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa, frustrated by low farm prices, gathered in Corning, Iowa. On Oct. 20, 1955, 85 producers met and elected the organization’s first president, Harry Grundman.

Later that fall, 1,000 people met in Corning for the National Farmers Organization’s first convention. At the convention, Oren Lee Staley was elected president. From these initial meetings, a protest movement developed into a nationwide effort. Disillusionment with government policies galvanized farmers’ resolve to determine their own future.

In 1962, the organization established three commodity departments: dairy, grain and livestock. These divisions remain the basic operating structure of National Farmers today.

In the 1990s, National Farmers added emphasis on group marketing and risk management services, offering a growing slate of programs that America’s producers wanted. The organization’s dairy futures, flat-price hog contracts and grain price averaging programs became industry models.