Howard Laverne Roach was born to Edwin A. and Addie (Farnsworth) Roach in Plainfield, Iowa, on January 8, 1898. He attended Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War I. While in the service he was able to attend classes at the University of California at Berkeley and was also able to take short courses at Iowa State College (University) in Ames, Iowa.

From 1919 until his death, Roach was engaged in farming near Plainfield, Iowa. Roach was also active in the family business J. Roach Sons, Inc., serving as Secretary (1920-1940) and President (1940-1955). The company, started by his grandfather in 1867, was an elevator, feed, farm management, and estate management business in Plainfield.

Roach was active in local and national farm organizations. He was an organizer of the Soybean Council of America, Inc., serving as its first President (1956-1964). He was also President (1944-1946) of the American Soybean Association. He was a director of the Rath Packing Co. of Waterloo, Iowa, and was also Vice-President (1966-1968) of Experience, Inc., a Minneapolis corporation that offered consulting to agricultural businesses. Also, during the 1950s, Roach was Chairman of the Republican National Farm Council.

Howard Roach married Frieda Rebecca Page in Renville County, North Dakota, in 1920. Together they had three children, John Page, Virginia May, and Richard Howard. Roach died in Plainfield, Iowa, on February 21, 1968.

This collection (1952-1954, n.d.) contains biographical information, correspondence, and newspaper clippings. The two primary correspondents in this collection are U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson and Rod Kreger, Director of Farm Activities for the Republican National Committee. The correspondence files contain speeches by the Secretary of Agriculture, farm-related newspaper clippings, and correspondence regarding farm policies of the Eisenhower administration.

The items are arranged by subject.