OFB and COUNTRY Financial
To understand the partnership between the Farm Bureau and COUNTRY Financial, you have to go all the way back to the early 20th century.
That’s when groups of farmers began organizing to promote agriculture and share ideas to improve their methods for raising healthy, high-quality crops and animals. One of the most pressing needs of America’s ag community in the early 1900s was insurance protection. Working in agriculture involved many hazards that were difficult or impossible to insure. State Farm Bureaus around the country, including Oregon, established insurance companies to serve their members.
In 1925, the Illinois Agricultural Association addressed this problem by forming the Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company. Two years later, the Illinois Agricultural Mutual Insurance Company was established to provide automobile coverage. And in 1946, these companies joined to become COUNTRY Mutual Insurance Company.
By the 1960s, the COUNTRY group began to expand into other states, and in 1986, COUNTRY purchased the Northwest Farm Bureau Insurance Company from the Oregon, Washington, and Nevada Farm Bureaus.
Today, Oregon Farm Bureau’s relationship with COUNTRY Financial continues in the form of an endorsement of COUNTRY’s offerings. While providing these much-needed services to family farmers and ranchers and their neighbors, the company also provides important support for OFB’s Young Farmer and Rancher Program and other leadership efforts aimed at ensuring that the next generation of agriculture producers is equipped to handle the challenges of the future.
COUNTRY also funds a $1,000 scholarship for associate members of Farm Bureau and contributes in many ways to numerous Farm Bureau activities throughout the year.
We greatly appreciates this generous support and the Farm Bureau members who join us through COUNTRY Financial!