At first their method included withholding of commodities from sale (standard economics classes teach that reducing supply will increase price if demand remains constant).

They also destroy food in dramatic ways, in an attempt to gain media exposure, for example, slaughtering excess dairy cows.

However, it informally began with conversations between farmer Wayne Jackson and feed sales man Jay Loghry in 1953.

However, much of the initial impetus for the NFO's early growth came from positive comments made by former Iowa Governor Daniel Webster Turner when he was asked about it by the press.

In return for Missourians' supporting Corning as the headquarters’ site, Turner backed Oren Lee Staley from Missouri as the first President of the NFO.

[2] The NFO engaged in producers strikes called “holding actions” to get food processors who ordinarily held monopsony power over farmers to sign the agency contracts.

This ended due to a temporary restraining order issued by US Federal Judge Stephenson of the US District Court for Southern Iowa.

[4] In the 1970s, the National Farmers Organization started working with processors and the food and feed industry to secure supply contracts in all the commodities they represented.

The NFO failed to persuade the U.S. government to establish a quota system as is currently practiced today in the milk, cheese, eggs and poultry supply management programs in Canada.

In particular, in the 1980s, under President DeVon Woodland of Blackfoot, Idaho, the organization specialized more in the business aspects of assisting producers increase revenue, by negotiating better prices and contract sales terms for large volumes of pooled and marketed agricultural commodities.

Field staff offices, dairy re-loads and Livestock Service Centers started operating across the country.