The Summit County Farm Bureau was organized in 1921 for the purpose of “representing, promoting and protecting the business needs of farming and centralizing into a unit of strength the several county farm bureaus of the State of Ohio.”
The Summit County Farm Bureau was granted exempt status with respect to Federal income taxes in 1931, but wasn’t legally recognized as a not-for-profit corporation until March 3, 1946. At that time, the organization was officially incorporated in Summit County, Ohio as “Summit County Farm Bureau, Inc.”
This corporation was formed for the following purposes:
“To engage, on a non-profit basis, in any activity in connection with the organization, development and maintenance of a membership organization which shall aid and assist in the betterment of the conditions and welfare of those engaged in agriculture and horticulture, or either of them, the improvement of the grade of their products, and development of a higher degree of efficiency, science and knowledge by them.”
The original office for the Summit County Farm Bureau was housed in the Farm Bureau Co-op Store located at 20 East Broad Street in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Long-time board member Dean Hartong (Dean was elected to the Summit County Farm Bureau Board of Trustees in the early 1950s and remained an active member for approximately 50 years!) recalls attending his first board meeting at this location. He also notes that although the co-op served many different types of customers, horse owners were particularly prevalent – and he helped serve these customers by bringing straw to sell at the feed store.
Incidentally, the first Board of Trustees included 12 people – just like the current Summit County Farm Bureau Board of Trustees.
The Summit County Farm Bureau continued to call the Cuyahoga Falls location home for many years. Then, the board was offered rent-free meeting space in the Nationwide building in Fairlawn, Ohio. Unfortunately, the Nationwide building was eventually closed down, which prompted the SCFB Board to move its meetings to the Home Builder’s Association building on White Pond Drive (Akron, Ohio) through January 2012, at which time Andy Troutman graciously offered his Great Room at The Winery at Wolf Creek (rent free). When an explosion on May 30th, 2017 totally destroyed The Winery at Wolf Creek’s Great Room and Distillery, Tom Dayton offered his Owl Barn at Dayton Nurseries (rent free) to the Summit County Farm Bureau board – where it continues to meet to this day.
Our Mission Statement:
“To promote agriculture through education and involvement, serving as the voice of agriculture in Summit County thus improving the viability of agriculture in an urban county.”
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Meet the SCFB Office Staff:
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- Lindsay Tournoux, Organization Director
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- Jan Weaver, Office Manager
Contact Us:
by email or by mail/phone:
Summit County Farm Bureau
8460 Ridge Rd
North Royalton, OH 44133
Phone: 440-877-0706
summit@ofbf.org
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