Newspaperman Isaac Newton Gresham founded the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union at Point, Texas in 1902. The Union was organized to protect and promote the interests of family farmers. The Union became a national organization in 1905.
The Farmers Union came to South Dakota about 1914. Former members of the Nebraska Farmers Union who moved to South Dakota to farm introduced the organization. Farmer’s Union officials did much of the early work in organizing from Nebraska.
The Farmers Union of South Dakota was organized into a state unit at Mitchell on March 16, 1917. This was the first state convention to be held in South Dakota. There were fourteen counties represented at the convention by 268 delegates. By this time, there were 134 locals in South Dakota.
The educational program of the South Dakota Farmers Union has been a vital part of the state organization. The Union pioneered many activities in education that other state units adopted. One of the important functions of the early Union was the collective purchasing of supplies such as flour, coal, twine, etc.