1950s: A New Home

The 1950s: A New Home

During the '40s the state Farm Bureau offices remained housed in a two-room suite in Orlando. As staff expansion and insurance activities began to cramp things, a building fund was established under President George Munroe and a new state headquarters was established in Winter Park.

In December 1950, the staff moved into a renovated former municipal golf course clubhouse.

President Loring Raoul, elected in 1949, set a goal of helping the 50 county Farm Bureaus become active, self-sustaining units. Farm Bureau now had two fieldmen working with counties. Change was also taking place at the state level. A study of FFBF was conducted by American Farm Bureau Federation. Rauol named a management committee composed of himself, General Counsel Henry Pringle and Executive Vice President John Ford to act on recommendations made by American Farm Bureau.

While the insurance program was a success, rumblings of discontent were beginning to be heard. As Florida Farm Bureau entered its second decade it was on the brink of its first major upheaval.

In 1951, membership stood at 10,000. Optimistic boosters had expected it to reach that level within three years of its founding in 1941. But if Farm Bureau was a lackluster organization entering the '50s, the end of that decade would find it transformed into a political powerhouse. During this time it would undergo some of its greatest changes and see an explosive growth in membership.

Insurance turmoil

The leadership team that would set the course for this success would emerge from turmoil centering around FFBF's relationship with the Southern Farm Bureau Insurance Companies. Resentment grew among the Florida insurance staff and some FFBF directors about insurance management by Southern. This resulted in a move to separate from Southern, but that effort failed.

Delegates to the 1951 convention elected Ed Finlayson of Jefferson County as president. Finlayson inherited an organization that had spent so much time and energy on the insurance scrap that little else had been accomplished for months.

Finlayson, elected for a second term in 1953, saw the need to speed the growth of membership in the organization.

The legislative arena

At the state level, Finlayson determined that the best way for Farm Bureau to gain acclaim and do something beneficial for members was to score an impressive victory in the state legislative arena. A refund of the sales tax on gasoline used on farms was rated as Farm Bureau's number one legislative priority and county legislative committees were formed to push for this goal.

With the support of Gov. Dan McCarty, a refund bill passed - by a single vote. The final version was something less than Farm Bureau had wanted, but it was nonetheless a victory for agriculture. By the end of 1953, FFBF membership had risen to 13,000.

The Mutual Insurance Company

By spring of 1954, Southern Farm Bureau insurance executives suggested that the time was right and recommended that the Florida Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company be formed.

Farm Bureau members in Florida were soon buying fire insurance from their organization in great numbers. By 1958, the mutual insurance company was writing in excess of $500,000 in premiums per year, exceeding even the most optimistic predictions.

First Headquarters in Gainesville

The prospect of moving Florida Farm Bureau headquarters from Winter Park to Gainesville drew heated debate from the board of directors and individual members in the mid-1950s. Proponents of the move pointed out that many agencies Farm Bureau dealth with were located in Gainesville.

Opponents wanted to maintain a central Florida location, but the move north was approved by the board in 1955 and work began on the new location.

On Aug. 1, 1956, Florida Farm Bureau officially opened its third headquarters building – a Southern colonial-style building south of Gainesville on U.S. 441.

Growth in membership and staff

By the end of the 1950s, membership in FFBF had more than tripled. There wre now 61 county Farm Bureaus in Florida and the organization had 100 paid staff members in the Gainesville office. County-level participation in the annual conventions was also strong.

In 1958, the "Banner County" competition – forerunner of the Gold Star competition – was developed to recognize outstanding effort at the county level.

The Winn Dixie/Farm Bureau Scholarship was a convention highlight. New contests were also added to the annual meeting.

County Farm Bureaus Grow

By the end of the decade more than half of the Farm Bureau counties had their own offices, many staffed with full-time secretaries.

AFBF annual meeting in Florida

In 1956, the American Farm Bureau Federation demonstrated its increasing esteem for FFBF by holding its national convention at Miami Beach. There, FFBF President Ed Finlayson became the first Florida official to be elected to the AFBF Board of Directors, a post he was to hold for the rest of the decade and beyond.