The Federal Farm Board

Report Outline
Organization of the Federal Farm Board
The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929
Structure for Cooperative Marketing
Problems of the Federal Farm Board

Organization of the Federal Farm Board

Accomplishments During its First Six Months

Six months have elapsed since the formal organization of the Federal Farm Board on July 15, 1929, During these six months the Farm Board has brought about the creation of three nation-wide coo´perative marketing corporations—the Farmers' National Grain Corporation, the National Wool Marketing Corporation, and the American Cotton Coo´perative Association; it has held many meetings looking to the formation of similar corporations for other commodities, some of which are now on the road toward organization; and it has authorized loans to coo´perative associations totalling approximately $60,000,000.

In addition to these outward accomplishments, the Board—as its members have pointed out—has had to spend much time in the interpretation of provisions of its organic act, in the development of policies, the creation of machinery, the employment of personnel to carry out its legal, banking, economic, and organizing functions, and in hearing the representations of coo´perative associations wishing to obtain loans from the Board. The unlikelihood that rapid action would be possible at the outset was pointed out by President Hoover when, he said, in a brief address at the Board's initial meeting:

I know there is not a thinking farmer who does not realize that all this cannot be accomplished by a magic wand or an overnight action. Real institutions are not built that way.