New York State War Council. Farm Manpower Service.

The Farm Manpower Service began operation upon the appointment of its director, T. Norman Hurd, by a resolution of the New York State War Council in 1943. It was formed in order to coordinate the work of all federal, state, and local agencies as well as farm organizations, groups, and individuals dealing with the severe war-time labor shortage faced by food producers in New York State.

The Farm Manpower Service was responsible for the administration of the Farm Cadet Victory Corps Program, an effort to recruit, train, place, house, and employ several thousand high school students as seasonal farm laborers. The program was started in 1942 and administered by New York City schools in conjunction with the Bureau of Agricultural Education of the State Education Department. Upon its creation in 1943, the Farm Manpower Service assumed responsibility for the Farm Cadet Victory Corps Program, while the schools and State Education Department continued to cooperate in its administration. To fulfill its responsibility to provide a statistical service concerning farm labor, the Farm Manpower Service gathered information from surveys, the monthly reports of approximately 800 farmers, and other sources and began to publish the results in Employment and Wages of Farm Labor in New York in 1943.

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