100 years later at the Newcomer Schoolhouse

Written by TF Staff on September 05 2014.

MFA board members and descendants of the first MFA members gather to remember MFA’s origins.

In the months leading up to March 10, 1914, MFA organizer William Hirth had stirred the hearts of many farmers with the new idea of farmers banding together to garner collective power in buying inputs and selling the fruits of the farm. It was in Chariton County in a one-room schoolhouse that the idea was formally realized.

On that March evening in 1914, members of the Newcomer Schoolhouse Farm Club gathered to make a bulk order of baling twine. Attending that historic meeting were: Aaron Bachtel, T.E. Penick, brothers W.J. and George Heisel, Earl Smutz, John Kohl and W.L. Armstrong. This meeting and the cooperative purchase launched MFA.

On July 22, 2014, MFA Incorporated’s board of directors along with MFA management and staff joined descendants of the Newcomer Schoolhouse Farm Club and local community members to pay tribute.

Created on September 05 2014.
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MFA's First 100 Years

Proud Past Bright Future, by Chuck Lay is a historical look at MFA Incorporated's first 100 years. The book includes dozens of never-before-seen historic images and is a celebration of the contributions made by thousands of individuals. It reflects the history of agriculture and the nation as well.

It’s a proud history of accomplishment. Specifically because of MFA action, the state of Missouri has:
• a pure seed law, which stopped the dumping of inferior seed;
• standardized weights and measures to correct haphazard scales;
• farm-to-market roads to pull farmers out of the mud;
• high-school educations for rural children;
• pesticide labeling laws to keep pesticides out of soda bottles;
• egg-grading laws to protect consumers from inferior eggs;
• high-analysis fertilizer to power agriculture;
• a four-year medical school at the University of Missouri in Columbia, not Kansas City.

But more importantly, the history of MFA is the history of those who built an organization to provide themselves with economic power and a voice in their destiny.

The Centennial MFA photo

Tag yourself or friends in the big 99-megapixel panoramic Centennial MFA photo.

Instructions:
Login to Facebook using the login button at the lower left of the picture if you are not already logged onto Facebook. To tag yourself or friends, click and drag the red pin over the picture. A box will pop up that will let you enter a comment. Click enter and you have tagged the photo in Facebook.

To share a snapshot of part of this big photo, zoom into the area you want to share and then click the small camera button. You may make the image full screen by clicking the box underneath the zoom, which is in the upper left hand part of the box. Note: A current Adobe Flash player is needed to display the image above.

Click the PRINT button to purchase a large version of the panorama or to purchase an inexpensive poster, Click HERE.

©2013 MFA Incorporated / Photo by James Fashing, Special thanks to Craig Weiland for his Photoshop talents.

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