Archives West Finding Aid

The critical situation faced by the agriculture industry in the 1920s and 1930s brought into existence many new problems and made existing problems more serious. Many of these problems required group action and several new governmental agencies were established to work toward the solution of these problems. The creation of these agencies was an expression of the national appreciation of the need for a prosperous and stable agriculture. However, the rapid expansion of governmental activity through many relatively independent agencies, all tending to deal directly with the individual farmer, resulted in a certain amount of confusion and thus there was a need for coordinating the activities of these agencies.

The United States Department of Agriculture set up a nation-wide program designed to enlist the aid of local farmers in planning public programs for agriculture and providing for continuing coordination of agricultural activities. The Bureau of Agricultural Economics directed the central organization in Washington, D.C., and each state had a state committee consisting of representative farm men and women and the state directors of agencies working on agricultural programs. Agencies represented included the Extension Service, Forest Service, State Land Department, Soil Conservation Service, and Farm Security Administration. In Idaho the University of Idaho Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station worked with the Idaho Land Use Planning Section in assisting the other groups. Thus, the machinery existed for enabling farmers to cooperatively develop plans and action to solve their problems locally. The program was also set up so that, where necessary, problems could be attacked on a statewide or even a nation-wide basis. Much of the data in the Idaho programs was gathered using personnel hired under the Works Progress Administration and Idaho Emergency Relief Administration.