Muscatine Island was selected as the area for this investigation because it was relatively small, isolated and characterized by a distinctive type of farming (fig. 1). It was a problem area where farming offered only limited security, where income was low and success difficult to attain. Problems of land utilization and social organization had arisen frequently on the Island. Alternative choices in farm enterprises and in social organizations were few. In such an area the complicated relations between organizations and land use were relatively easy to isolate and describe.

The central problems of this study are problems of rural organizations and their relation to land utilization. What rural organizations had developed on Muscatine Island in the past? What changes took place in Island organizations and what were the factors associated with changes which were made? What organizations were functioning at the time of this study ? What were the relations of these organizations to the problems of land utilization commonly recognized on Muscatine Island? What changes might be made in organizations which might enable them to contribute more effectively to social and economic developments? How might such changes be made?