Herman C. Aaberg was an American Farm Bureau Federation administrator, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Iowa, county agricultural agent, and farmer. Aaberg received a two-year, non-collegiate Agriculture Certificate (1924) from Iowa State College (University).

He served as supervisor of the Lake Mills-Scarville (Iowa) Cow Testing Association from 1925 to 1926, and then became county agricultural agent for Winnebago County, Iowa. While working in Winnebago County, he completed a project to eradicate tuberculosis in livestock. Winnebago County was the first county in Iowa to be declared tuberculosis- free. In 1931 Aaberg left his position to farm in Pocahontas County, Iowa. He returned to extension work in 1932 when he was named county agricultural agent for Sioux County, Iowa.

In 1933 Aaberg was named Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Iowa, a position he held until 1936. During his tenure as Assistant Secretary, he was in charge of the emergency corn loan program and the eradiation programs for chinch bugs and grasshoppers.

From 1936 to 1944, Aaberg was the Iowa representative for the Chicago Producers Commission Association. In this position, he assisted the Extension Service and the Iowa Farm Bureau in organizing 70 county cattle feeder associations. In 1944, Aaberg joined the American Farm Bureau Federation as director of the Livestock Department (later called Marketing Research and Commodity Activities), a position he held until he retired in 1969. In addition to his work for the Farm Bureau on livestock and commodity marketing, he became very active in developing programs to eradicate livestock diseases. He served on the National Brucellosis Committee, the National Cattle Grub Committee, the National Hog Cholera Committee, and with Livestock Conservation, Inc.

For his efforts in disease eradiation programs, Aaberg was honored by Livestock Conservation, Inc, the American Humane Association, and the Animal Health Division of the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1983 he received the Iowa Farm Bureau’s Award for Distinguished Service to Agriculture.

(For further biographical information, see files 1/1-1/4)