 Oliver Hudson Kelley played an important role in farming as one of the founders of the National Grange , along with several other clerks in the United States Department of Agriculture . The movement grew out of his interest in cooperative farm associations following the end of the Civil War , and he established local Grange chapters in Elk River and Saint Paul . The organization worked to provide education on new farming methods , as well as to influence government and public opinion on matters important to farmers . One of these areas of concern was the freight rates charged by the railroads and by the grain elevators . Since there was little or no competition between railroads serving Minnesota farm communities , railroads could charge as much as the traffic would bear . By 1871 , the situation was so heated that both the Republican and Democratic candidates in state elections promised to regulate railroad rates . The state established an office of railroad commissioner and imposed maximum charges for shipping . Populist Ignatius L. Donnelly also served the Grange as an organizer . 
