Feature

Long Row Lavender Allows Guests to Relax with an Ancient Herb On a brilliant May morning, Tracy Smith led a group of 10 ladies through rows of lavender—her farm’s signature crop in rural Warren County, Mo. While she discussed the do’s and don’ts of growing the fragrant shrub, she encouraged […]

Six years after Charlie Besher’s first experience with black vultures, the memory of the encounter remains vivid. He and his wife, Donnia, were checking on their cattle in Perry County, Mo., when they came upon a grisly scene. At least 20 vultures were ravaging the corpse of a newborn calf […]

Much has changed in the nearly 100 years since MFA Oil Company’s founding, but the need for a dependable energy supplier remains as vital as ever for the cooperative’s farmer-owners. MFA Oil understands the importance of investing in infrastructure to ensure the success of its member-owners. The cooperative is committed […]

Tending to sweet potatoes has been a passion for the Matthews family since 1885 These days, it seems the sweet potato has found its way onto American dinner tables with increased frequency. No longer is the venerable vegetable simply baked and buttered or smothered with marshmallows. There’s an entire new […]

MFA Oil Company declared it would pay $6.9 million in cash to its members in exchange for doing business with the cooperative during the company’s 93rd Annual Delegate Meeting on Dec. 12, 2022. Nearly 300 elected representatives of the cooperative convened in Columbia, Mo., at the Holiday Inn Expo Center […]

Nearly 80 young farmers from Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas participated in the second Emerging Leaders in Agriculture Conference hosted by MFA Oil and MFA Incorporated on Jan. 11-13. The event, held at Camden on the Lake Resort in Lake Ozark, Mo., is designed to help producers better manage and grow […]

Monte Fisher, a lifelong resident of Brashear, Mo., grew up on his family’s farm. Following his retirement from a 31-year career with the Missouri Department of Transportation, Fisher began farming full-time. Fisher was elected to the MFA Oil Board of Directors in 2017. You’ve served on the MFA Oil Board […]

It’s a scene that plays out every spring and fall at local agricultural cooperatives and farm supply stores across the country. A single-file, serpentine line of pickup trucks and trailers forms in the parking lot, often before the start of business hours. Loaded down with stock tanks, garbage cans and […]

For more than a quarter century, Campo Lindo Farms has raised the freshest free-range chicken and eggs. Just a few. That was the plan when Jay and Carol Maddick raised their first broiler chickens in the 1990s on their farm in Clinton County, Mo. But a few quickly turned into […]

Overcoming tragedy, fourth-generation Sullivan County farmer forges ahead to grow the family business in animal agriculture Growing up in north Missouri’s Sullivan County, just a few miles from Green City, Trevor Shafer always felt his place was on the family farm. After all, the Shafers’ roots run deep in this […]

MFA Oil Company recently made a pair of acquisitions in the Show-Me State. The company acquired the propane and refined fuel operations of Griffin Oil & Propane, an independent retailer based in southeast Missouri, on March 30. MFA Oil completed another acquisition when it bought D&D Oil Company of Wheaton, […]

On May 31, MFA Oil and MFA Incorporated, a grain marketing and farm supply cooperative, announced an agreement under which MFA Incorporated will acquire full ownership of Northwest Missouri Grain, LLC. Five years ago, the two companies came together to construct a state-of-the-art grain-handling facility just outside Hamilton, Mo. MFA […]