Oklahoma Farmers Union - American Farmers & Ranchers

cooperative continues to exist and thrive in a newly constructed facility and provides
services throughout Southwestern Oklahoma.
The financing of most of these cooperatives was quite unusual.
W.F. Varnum, of Seminole, was a Farmers Union member and a strong believer
in cooperatives. He organized and operated a cooperative store in Seminole. He came
into considerable wealth due to oil production on his lands. With the money from the oil
operation, he financed up to 50 percent of any cooperative that was organized in the state.
The gin manufacturing companies financed the remaining half. This was before the
formation of the Wichita Bank of Cooperatives, organized to finance cooperatives in
1934.
OFU, in cooperation with the local Farmers Union organizations, called meetings
of the farmers. At these meetings, farmers were permitted to express their interest and
need for a cooperative. Legal and technical information was provided by Oklahoma
Farmers Union and the manner in which the cooperatives could be financed and operated
was explained. During the 1920s, it was possible under Farmers Union guidance to
organize, finance and build a cooperative gin within 60 days.
In the beginning, the by-laws of the cooperative required patrons to be members
of the Oklahoma Farmers Union. This practice was discontinued during the late 1930s
and 1940s when the by-laws changed.
Cooperative development steadily grew with an expansion of input supplies for
producers. By 1935, the sales department was selling two million pounds of twine
annually. Trainloads of bulk coal were ordered as rural families enjoyed savings through
cooperative buying clubs.
In 1949, the state organization announced a new wholesale business and adopted
an official seal of the letters “O.F.U.” set in the middle of a shield for the purpose of
positive recognition of Union products. Its goods included Gillette tires and batteries,
K.F.U. hybrid seeds, Barrett roofing and asbestos siding materials, agricultural chemical
fertilizers and sprays, farm machinery, steel and wire products and paints. A credit was
established in 1949.
In May 1953, President Homer Duffy announced the purchase of Dobry Mills,
Inc., in Yukon, which would be converted into a feed mill. In September, a “Fireside
Store” offered mail order merchandise to the membership. More than 700 representative
members were given a five-pound catalog filled with more than 8,000 sale items,
including jewelry, furniture, clothing, gifts and housewares.
Oklahoma Farmers Union stores and cooperatives sold everything — from
lumber, appliances, furniture, beds, tables and chairs to tin, fuel and tires. Private
industry and the chambers of commerce fought against cooperative-owned ventures and
eventually contributed to its weakened state as a service provider in many areas. Former