Coalition of U.S. farmers, mainly in the Midwest, that fought monopolistic grain-transport practices in the 1870s.
Oliver H. Kelley (18261913), a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee, organized the Patrons of Husbandry in 1867 to bring farmers together to learn new farming methods. By the mid-1870s almost every state had at least one branch, or Grange, and national membership passed 800,000. The Grangers influenced some states to pass regulatory legislation to counter the price-fixing by railroads and grain-storage facilities. Outgrowths of the Granger movement included the Greenback and Populist movements. The Grangers dropped to about 100,000 members by 1880; they rebounded in the early 20th century, but declined again subsequently.