Excerpts from the report Preface: The study reported here summarizes the results of the 1954 "benchmark" survey of the farmers’ mutual fire and windstorm insurance companies. A total of 1,476 farm mutual insurance companies cooperated in the study by filling in and returning their survey schedules. Similar surveys, though not so comprehensive, were made in 1916, 1926, 1936, and 1946. This bulletin is the result of an effort to learn more about the operating methods of the farm mutuals, by types of companies, regions, volume of insurance carried, and size of operating territory, and the extent to which these and other factors are associated with loss and expense rates, assessment income, and size of safety funds.