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75 Years Strong history book now available

Preview our special 75th anniversary history book, 75 years strong, now available to order!

View and Order Now!

Celebrating 75 Years of Oklahoma Farm Bureau History

Welcome to the Oklahoma Farm Bureau 75th anniversary website. Throughout 2017, we will be looking back at 75 years of our organization’s history and examine the people, places, and programs that formed Oklahoma’s largest farm organization.

Browse through our photo galleries, read through Farm Bureau history and check out the blog for unique moments in Oklahoma Farm Bureau history.

If this is your first visit to our 75th anniversary site, be sure to check out our welcome blog post, which outlines the features and sections of the site along with an overview of our history.

Moments in OKFB History

The latest from OKFB's history blog

OKFB launches the Votemobile

During the early years of Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the number of voters nationwide was a concern. OKFB reported that only 51 percent of eligible voters went to the polls in the 1948 presidential election. The American Farm Bureau Federation suggested the use of educational programs and contests to increase the number of voters, particularly in rural areas. … Continue Reading...

A voice for agriculture

By Dan Arnold, OKFB executive secretary, published in the first issue of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farmer magazine in June 1949 Farm Bureau is a Service Organization, and is now the only Farmers Organization through which nation-wide farm thinking and united action can be reflected for him and his family. … Continue Reading...

A Farm Bureau Member’s Creed

By John I. Taylor, first OKFB president, and published in the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farmer in December 1951 I am a human being living in a land of unlimited horizon. Having been born here, or journeyed here by choice, matters little, but the fact that my life and living are here is of great importance. … Continue Reading...

From the Gallery

Congressman Carl Albert (left) met with representatives of county Farm Bureaus in his district at a Farm-Bureau-sponsored get-together in McAlester in 1959. Albert is shown here with McCurtain County’s Hubert Nelson (center) and Pittsburg County’s Ralph Smalley.
Congressman Carl Albert (left) met with representatives of county Farm Bureaus in his district at a Farm-Bureau-sponsored get-together in McAlester in 1959. Albert is shown here with McCurtain County’s Hubert Nelson (center) and Pittsburg County’s Ralph Smalley.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Board Member Bob Drake of Murray County signs an OKFB cap that was passed around to members at the 2009 State Resolutions Committee meeting, showing support for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s “Don’t cap our future” campaign. The campaign rallied against a proposed “cap and trade” scheme of environmental controls that was being proposed in Congress. Two signed caps were sent to Washington, D.C., to show OKFB support for the campaign, one of which was used on the U.S. Senate floor by Sen. Jim Inhofe during debate on the bill.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Board Member Bob Drake of Murray County signs an OKFB cap that was passed around to members at the 2009 State Resolutions Committee meeting, showing support for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s “Don’t cap our future” campaign. The campaign rallied against a proposed “cap and trade” scheme of environmental controls that was being proposed in Congress. Two signed caps were sent to Washington, D.C., to show OKFB support for the campaign, one of which was used on the U.S. Senate floor by Sen. Jim Inhofe during debate on the bill.
In 1990, about 100 Oklahoma farmers and ranchers donated more than 300 tons of hay to drought-stricken parts of south Texas. The donations came as a result of the “South Texas Haylift,” a cooperative effort among Farm Bureau members that grew to encompass even non-members. Shown here, Logan County Farm Bureau President Bill Kinney (left) and Vice President Oliver Rudd watch donated hay being loaded onto railcars as they stand in front of a trailer waiting to be unloaded. The hay was loaded on the railcars at the Marshall Co-op and the Guthrie Santa Fe depot and routed to Texas cattlemen in Bexar, Atascoas and Victoria counties, where accumulated rainfall was less than 12 inches in the previous two years.
In 1990, about 100 Oklahoma farmers and ranchers donated more than 300 tons of hay to drought-stricken parts of south Texas. The donations came as a result of the “South Texas Haylift,” a cooperative effort among Farm Bureau members that grew to encompass even non-members. Shown here, Logan County Farm Bureau President Bill Kinney (left) and Vice President Oliver Rudd watch donated hay being loaded onto railcars as they stand in front of a trailer waiting to be unloaded. The hay was loaded on the railcars at the Marshall Co-op and the Guthrie Santa Fe depot and routed to Texas cattlemen in Bexar, Atascoas and Victoria counties, where accumulated rainfall was less than 12 inches in the previous two years.

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