Farmers Revolt Against County Extension Office
Agricultural groups in Benton County push to purge the county agent's office and force the retirement of state college leadership over cooperative marketing disputes.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Pomona Grange, held on the Kennewick Highlands last Saturday and attended by about 300 grangers, after a long discussion voted to ask the county commissioners to accept the resignation of V. L. Georgeson and to retain the office but secure a new county agent. The directors of the Benton County Farm Bureau, at a meeting in Benton City on Monday, by the close vote of 5 to 4, made the same recommendation, with the exception that the extension work in the county be discontinued for one year. The Farm Bureau directors also passed a resolution addressed to the regents of the state college, asking for the retirement of Dr. S. B. Nelson, director of the extension work. The reason for this request is the claim that the attitude of Dr. Nelson is such that the county agents are not permitted to lend any aid to the organization of the farmers for cooperative marketing.
“The reason for this request is the claim that the attitude of Dr. Nelson is such that the county agents are not permitted to lend any aid to the organization of the farmers for cooperative marketing.”
The tension between grassroots agricultural cooperatives and state-mandated institutional power mirrors current debates over the influence of corporate and state entities in local farming economies.
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