Archives West Finding Aid

Karl Hobson and Elliot Marple formed Hobson's Farm Forecast, Inc., in December 1952 as a corporation created to produce Hobson's Farm Forecast, a weekly newsletter directed to farmers in the Pacific Northwest. The corporation was sold to the Doane Agricultural Service in 1955. Hobson was an agricultural economist, originally from Sedan, Kansas. After working at various places throughout the United States, he took a job at the State College of Washington, in 1947, with U.S. Bureau of Agricultural Extension in livestock marketing, with some teaching responsibilities. In mid-1948, he became a full-time member of the Bureau's extension information staff at WSC. In 1949, Hobson met Elliot Marple, a Seattle-based business forecaster who published Marple's Business Roundup, a weekly newsletter covering business market opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. Hobson and Marple, in 1950, formed a joint-partnership to produce Hobson's Farm Forecast. Hobson, in Pullman, provided the text, while Marple, in Seattle produced the weekly publication through his existing Roundup operation. In late 1952, Hobson and Marple dissolved their joint-partnership and created Hobson's Farm Forecast, Inc., in part as a preventive measure against possible libel suits from disgruntled subscribers to the Forecast. Shortly, Hobson left the Bureau of Agricultural Extension at WSC and worked full-time for the corporation.

In mid 1955, Hobson and Marple sold Hobson's Farm Forecast, Inc. to the Doane Agricultural Service, Inc., of Carmichael, California. Hobson's Farm Forecast ceased production in July 1955, with Doane's Western Farm Forecast taking over subscriptions. Hobson and Marple sold their interest in Hobson's Farm Forecast, Inc. to Doane Agricultural Service in part because they saw the agricultural forecast market softening in the next few years. In addition, Hobson accepted a promotion with the Bureau of Agricultural Extension at WSC. For several months after Doane took over the subscriptions to Hobson's Farm Forecast, Hobson continued, part-time, to write for its new forecast publication. Doane ceased publishing the Western Farm Forecast in 1957. Karl Hobson retired from the federal agency in 1971. In the 1970s, he and his wife, Dorothy, moved to Maui, Hawaii. He died there from cancer in 1986. Elliot Marple continued to publish his business weekly, later retitled Marple's Business Newsletter.