Farm Bureau is an independent, non-governmental, voluntary organization of farm and ranch families united for the purpose of analyzing their problems, and formulating action to achieve educational improvement, economic opportunity, and social advancement and thereby, to promote the national well-being.
Farm Bureau is local, county, state, national, and international in its scope and influence, and is non-partisan, non-sectarian, and non-secret in character. Farm Bureau is the voice of agricultural producers at all levels.
Farm Bureau in Oklahoma was originally organized in 1942 as an independent farm organization. It was chartered under the laws of the state of Oklahoma on February 3, 1942, under the Cooperative Marketing Association Act. The Articles of Incorporation of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau were amended on March 4, 1962, and again on September 2, 1970, to reflect changes in the Oklahoma Statutes (which went into effect in February of 1968) relating to non-profit corporations, under Title 18, Section 858, pertaining to a provision in the IRS code for businesses operating as “501” (C)(5) corporations.
OFB affiliated with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) on March 1, 1942, when the first cooperative agreement was signed between the two organizations.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau, as such, has never rendered business services directly, or carried on any commercial activities since its conception. All of the business services that are made available to members are done so through affiliated companies, or agreements with third party companies or organizations.
Each county Farm Bureau in Oklahoma is individually organized and chartered under the Oklahoma non-profit statutes mentioned above, and thus are legal entities within themselves. Working arrangements with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau are provided for under a Memorandum of Agreement entered into with each county Farm Bureau.
One of the provisions of this agreement appoints the county Farm Bureau as a fiduciary agent for collection of the state and national portion of the member dues. The Oklahoma Farm Bureau, in turn, along with the other 49 State Farm Bureaus and Puerto Rico, is operating under a similar Memorandum of Agreement with the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Each of the organized county Farm Bureaus is comprised of a Board of Directors. Bylaws governing county Farm Bureaus will vary from county to county as each is a separate entity. The board members are farmers and/or ranchers with each deriving a majority of their income from production agriculture. The county board is the governing body of the county Farm Bureau and is accountable to the membership within that county.
