Nominally an independent body, funded only by its members and supporters, the AOS soon forged close links with the British government which from 1909 gave it an annual grant.
The president of the National Agricultural Union, Robert Yerburgh, the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Chester, became the head of the new organisation with A.T. Matthews as the secretary, although by the close of 1901 he had been succeeded by J. Nugent Harris.
Registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act as an organisation entirely independent of the British government, the AOS, which had its offices in Dacre House, Deere Street, Westminster, was at first solely financed by contributions from its members and supporters.
Indeed, possibly in anticipation of this, the Smallholders Act specifically contained a provision allowing the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to award money to any society which had as one of its objects the promotion of cooperation in connection with the cultivation of small holdings or allotments.
In 1913 this had 36 members, 12 nominated by the Board of Agriculture, two each by the Association of County Councils and the Co-operative Union and 18 elected by affiliated societies alongside two others co-opted by the Governors themselves.
[8] The AOS was registered in April 1901 as a non-party and non-trading body whose main purpose was to ‘secure the co-operation of all connected with the land, whether as owners, occupiers or labourers, and to promote the formation of agricultural co-operative societies for the purchase of requisites, for the sale of produce, for agricultural credit banking and insurance, and for all other forms of co-operation for the benefits of agriculture.’ [9] Among its aims the new society sought to:[10] The AOS believed that the financial problems facing British farmers arose from the fact that they bought items at retail prices but sold their products at wholesale prices.
At another meeting at the same venue, when a local farmer was asked what would happen if their new agricultural cooperative was to run into financial difficulties, he confidently asserted that this was highly unlikely in large part because it: ‘would be under the control of the A.O.S.
It is credited with playing a role in the establishment of schemes at Brandsby in Yorkshire and in the Teme Valley in Worcestershire in which railway companies purchased trucks specifically to carry produce at competitive rates to and from farms and local train stations.
Critics of the AOS in parliament also voiced concern over allegations that it was funding the Agricultural Wholesale Society, giving it an unfair advantage over its private competitors[20] as well as complaining about the terms of a £15,000 loan it had been granted by the Treasury for the acquisition of new premises which was free of interest until 31 March 1922.