Board of Agriculture

The Board of Trade began collecting annual agricultural returns in 1866. The returns of acreage and livestock were made by proprietors under the provisions of various Acts of Parliament, including the Agriculture Act of 1889 which set up a Board of Agriculture and transferred to it and its successors responsibility for the direction of the agricultural census.

From the guide to the Agricultural returns, 1894, (Senate House Library, University of London)

Agency History

In 1854 the Legislature created the California State Agricultural Society and authorized it to hold an exhibition of livestock, manufactures and productions (ch. 51). The 1863 Legislature added a Board of Agriculture to administer the affairs of the Society (ch. 49). The State Agricultural Society was declared to be a State institution in 1880, but it retained its independent status as a State board (ch. 60).

A major reorganization took place in 1929 when the Department of Finance took over all the powers and duties of the State Board of Agriculture and of the State Agricultural Society (ch. 853). A Division of Exhibits was also created. The Society continued to run the State fair, but a Board of Directors of the State Agricultural Society was established to manage its affairs, while the Board of Agriculture became an advisory body to the Department of Agriculture, all persuant to the 1929 act. A 1941 law changed the Division of Exhibits to the Division of Fairs and Exposition (ch. 943), and in 1953 the California State Agricultural Society became the California State Fair and Exposition (ch. 86). In 1963 the Legislature transferred the Division of Fairs and Exposition to the Department of Agriculture (ch. 1714), and then on to the Department of General Services in 1965 (ch. 809).

Studies for a "new State fair" had begun in 1946, and in 1963 a new California exposition and fair was created and placed in the Department of Finance (ch. 1743). Upon its completion the new exposition would replace the old fair. The new exposition and fair was administered by the California Exposition and Fair Committee (hereafter referred to as CEFEC). CEFEC was a state institution composed of State elected and appointed officials, some of whom were also members of the Board. With the creation of the Department of General Services (Stats. 1963, ch. 1786), CEFEC was transferred to it, persuant to (Stats. 1963, ch. 1743). On July 31, 1964, CEFEC contracted with the California Exposition and Fair Corporation (hereafter referred to as CEFCO) to construct and operate the new exposition and fair on the new American River site. Upon CEFEC declaring the new exposition and fair operational on June 21, 1968, the Board of Directors, California State Fair and Exposition, was abolished, non-CEFEC members becoming such, all persuant to the 1963 act. The old fair and exposition, which had continued to operate during the period in which the new exposition and fair was being constructed, was terminated. Thus, records of the Board of Directors, California State Fair and Exposition, overlap those of CEFEC and CEFCO from 1964 to 1968.

CEFCO continued in operation until its agreement with CEFEC was terminated Sept. 30, 1968, and CEFCO activities ceased Oct. 31, 1968. CEFEC began direct administration of the exposition and fair Nov. 1, 1968, and continued until its own abolition and replacement by the Division of Exposition and State Fair, Department of Parks and Recreation, Jan. 1, 1974 (Stats. 1973, ch. 1152).

From the guide to the California State Exposition and Fair Records, 1858-1973, (California State Archives)