The agricultural interests of the United States and Utah have experienced some trying situations during the past quarter century. Periods of depression followed by periods of expansion and prosperity have resulted in a condition of instability and insecurity in agriculture. The effect of alternate periods of prosperiy and depression in agriculture becomes increasingly important as agriculture changes from self-sufficing to commercialized types of business enterprises. Many of the difficulties inherent in the present complex social and captial structure were of minor significances in the early types of agricultural activities. Changing conditions in agriculture and in social institutions in general have necessitated that action be taken in behalf of agriculture; that some of the disturbances and chaos resulting from rapidly changing economic conditions might be mitigated. Many attempts have been made to relieve the undesirable situations which have prevailed in our agricultural industry. Some measures of relief have been supplied by various legislative action; other movements have resulted from activities on the part of farmers' organizations. Among the remedies proposed for relieving the depressed agricultural situation was movement for cooperative enterprise, especially those adventures in the realm of cooperative marketing. This movement, accordng to many, was to serve as the panacea or "cure all" for the undesirable disturbances in the field of agriculture. With the general evolution of the cooperative idea as a possible remedy for agricultural ills, government aid was solicited in an effort to promote and encourage agricultural cooperation. Various legislative acts, both state and federal, were passed and numerous political gestures made in the farmer's behalf. This was largely the result of the realization of a long felt need on the part of agricultural leaders; however to some extent it may have been an act of political strategy by those desiring the support of the national farm bloc. No matter what the reason, the fat remained that sentiment was created and interest was secured favoring the development of agricultural cooperatives. Farm organizations, professional promoters, agricultural extension services, and other educational institutions have all exerted an influence ont he character and direction of cooperative development. Just what effect this cooperative movement has had on the agricultural situation in Utah and its present status, is the primary purpose of this treatise. The historical background and development of cooperative tendencies will be presented briefly in an effort to show the growth and development of cooperative marketing along with its present economic status in Utah. The purpose of this study is to analyze and interpret the historical growth and development of farmers' cooperative marketing organizations in Utah along with an appraisal of their present economic status.

The focus of this research has been on how the county of Hertfordshire negotiated the economic, social and political changes of the late nineteenth century. A rural county sitting within just twenty miles of the nation’s capital, Hertfordshire experienced agricultural depression and a falling rural population, whilst at the same time seeing the arrival of growing numbers of wealthy, professional people whose economic focus was on London but who sought their own little patch of the rural experience. The question of just what constituted that rural experience was played out in the local newspapers and these give a valuable insight into how the farmers of the county sought to establish their own claim to be at the heart of the rural, in the face of an alternative interpretation which was grounded in urban assumptions of the social value of the countryside as the stable heart of the nation. The widening of the franchise, increased levels of food imports and fears over the depopulation of the villages reduced the influence of farmers in directing the debate over the future of the countryside. This study is unusual in that it builds a comprehensive picture of how agricultural depression was experienced in one farming community, before considering how farmers’ attempts to claim ownership of the ‘special’ place of the rural were unsuccessful economically, socially and politically. Hertfordshire had a long tradition of attracting the newly wealthy looking to own a country estate. Historians have suggested that in the late nineteenth century there was a shift in how such men understood ownership of these estates, showing little enthusiasm for the traditional paternalistic responsibilities; in the face of a declining political and social premium attached to landownership, their interest lay purely in the leisure and sporting opportunities of the rural. However, as this research will show, the newly wealthy were not immune to that wider concern with social stability, and they engaged with their local environment in meaningful ways, using their energies and wealth to fund a range of social improvements. This research extends our understanding of just how the rhetoric of the rural was experienced by the residents of a county which so many saw as incorporating the best of the ‘south country’. In so doing, it makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of how this period of agricultural depression was interpreted by the wider nation, and the impact on social and cultural understanding of the place of the countryside within the national identity.