50 years of giving
The MFA Foundation has invested $10 million in rural youth. It's a solid investment in agriculture's future.
The MFA Foundation was formed in 1958 with a gift of $28,000 from the estate of Robert O. Wurmb of Sinclair, Mo. The foundation offered its first scholarships in 1965, and since then, through the contributions of MFA Incorporated and MFA Oil, the foundation has built its assets and delivered financial assistance to youth in the cooperatives’ trade territory. In rounded figures, that assistance comes to about $10 million delivered to 10,000 students. Now in its fiftieth year, the foundation delivers more than 300 scholarships annually, each one worth $2,000. For 2006-07 school year, the foundation paid out more than $600,000 in scholarships.
“The annual scholarships given at local high schools have been extremely popular,” said Don Copenhaver, MFA Incorporated CEO and president. “Many of these recipients are in need of financial assistance, so through our help it has given them the opportunity to get a college degree they may not have gotten otherwise.”
That popularity is evident in the weeks after high school graduation as thank you notes begin pouring into the foundation’s secretary. Many of those notes echo Copenhaver’s sentiments, making the earnest point that the scholarship is allowing the student to get through at least one year of college.
Jerry Taylor, president of MFA Oil, said the scholarship program is most rewarding when seen at the local level.
“The importance of the MFA Foundation scholarship program can best be understood by visiting one of the MFA Oil or MFA Incorporated operations around the state. You walk into one of our offices in these small towns and see the pictures—in some cases covering an entire wall—of outstanding young people who have received an MFA scholarship.
“Then you hear from the employees about where some of those kids are today, and you begin to realize the importance of the program. It seems like everyone in the community takes pride and interest in following the success of the MFA Foundation scholarship recipients, and I suspect it is because the employees and patrons of MFA Oil and MFA Incorporated feel like they have had a part in giving someone a chance to achieve something they might not been able to do with out the help,” said Taylor.
In many ways, the help the foundation provides is a hedge for agriculture, a way to train the next generation of farmers and agribusiness workforce. As a reader of Today’s Farmer, you understand the importance of keeping bright minds in the industry. And you know that many rural communities suffer a brain drain as the most talented youth look head for larger towns where opportunity is more concentrated.
“Hopefully the nearly 325 individual scholarships we are currently providing on annual basis will produce enough young people to fill this void,” said Copenhaver. “Through the MFA Foundation we are investing in our future leaders. I hope there are many who will want to remain in agriculture.”
Aside from scholarships, the MFA Foundation furthers its purpose by supporting youth education programs such as Missouri 4-H Foundation, Missouri FFA Association, Missouri Young Farmers Association and Missouri Young Farm Wives Associations.
The foundation also has made contributions to the University of Missouri Medical School Library and School of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Life Sciences Building.
Scholarship success stories
To celebrate the milestone of a scholarship program, the obvious thing to do is visit a few recipients to see what they’ve done since their college days. The scope of the MFA Foundation scholarship makes that a daunting task. You can bet that throughout Midwest agriculture, in agribusiness, on the farm, raising children, in the hospitals and schools, and in every facet of rural communities, MFA Foundation scholars are at work. Here are a few vignettes to represent the places an MFA Foundation scholar will go.
Michelle Rhoads
One day, Michelle Rhoads’ research at the University of Arizona may save dairy farmers a lot of money. Fourteen years ago, an MFA Foundation scholarship helped fund her undergraduate education at the University of Missouri, and started her on a path toward solving a growing dairy cow fertility problem.
Her quest for a dairy career began when she was growing up near Osage Bend, Mo., where her father and stepmother, Michael and Angela Bode, and grandmother, Evelyn Bode, milked cows and belonged to MFA.“I loved the farm, and I love dairy cows,” Rhoads said. As a post-doctoral research associate and assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Arizona, Rhoads continues to pursue her passion for dairy animals, studying reproduction through a grant from USDA. She devises experiments to learn more about fertility, takes blood samples in the university feedlot, studies hormone levels and other factors in the lab, and analyzes and publishes the resulting data with the help of research and lab assistants.
“Worldwide, we have seen an enormous drop in dairy cow fertility in recent decades,” she said. “It’s my goal to find out why that’s happening, and to increase pregnancy rates.” Cows must calve before they can produce milk, she explained. And animals that can’t get pregnant must be culled. Both situations result in losses for producers.
After graduating from the University of Missouri, Rhoads earned her master’s degree at Cornell University in New York. She returned to the University of Missouri and finished her doctoral degree in 2004.
“So few ag students come from the farm today,” Rhoads said. “Those that do are so important—the industry really needs them. Scholarships like MFA’s help students pursue agriculture.”
Rhoads feels fortunate to have landed her current position. Agricultural researchers face intense competition, whether in academia or the corporate world. “We’ve seen a lot of budget cuts, and there are fewer jobs in academia than before,” she said. “Many times when a professor retires, they don’t refill the position, or delay refilling it.”
Rhoads’ husband, Robert, also researches animal science at the U of A. They have a one-year-old child, Evelyn, named for Michelle’s grandmother who milked cows every day. Another child is on the way.
Jeannie Bentley
As director of advancement for Boys & Girls Town of Missouri, Jeannie Bentley knows well that how we help our youth directly affects our future. Her current position is an obvious fit into a career of service to her community.
“I always figured I would work with kids. I had teacher who was a good mentor, and even though Marceline had no girls sports at the time—it was before Title IX—I attended North East Missouri State University [now Truman State] and got a degree in physical education,” said Bentley.
Much of her work with children came in that most important task of being a mother. And Bentley is proof that along with children comes responsibility to the community in which they grow up. She volunteered in the schools her daughters attended, served the PTO, Girl Scouts, as well as becoming a member of the Moberly Public School Board of Education and the Randolph Area YMCA. She was also a member of the Moberly City Council and on the board for the Moberly Area Chamber of Commerce, plus a part of a number of local service organizations.
“I’m part of that generation who believes you have to get out and support your community,” said Bentley. But now that her children are grown and soon to all have degrees of their own (one with a Ph.D.), she is focused on service through a career.
“I’m glad to have done the civic work, but I’m happy to be working with Boys & Girls Town of Missouri right now,” said Bentley. Boys & Girls Town of Missouri has a long history of helping youth in need of positive experiences and building self-esteem. The organization’s mission is to improve the lives of children with emotional and behavioral problems through family-focused services, an endeavor that pays its own dividends.
“I do remember at the time being very proud to win the MFA Foundation scholarship. My father was a farmer and very active with MFA. I was happy that he was proud when I received the award. I was the first member of my family to attend college, so it was a great milestone,” said Bentley. “It reinforced the idea that once your receive help, you, in turn, should give it back. I feel like I have done that not directly to MFA, but to my family, church and community.”
Brian Anderson
We’ve seen that the MFA Foundation scholarship pays dividends through the reciprocal leadership and hard work that foundation scholars push back into our communities and agriculture in general. But sometimes, the payoff hits even closer to home. For the folks at MFA Incorporated, Brian Anderson is an example.
As a high school student in Polo, Mo., Anderson’s plan was to farm. But his high school agriculture instructor, Mike Pollard, suggested that the best approach to farming might be to get a college degree first. “My parents wanted me to go to college, too. They agreed to pay for the first year of room and board if I went. So when I applied for and received the MFA Foundation scholarship, it proved to be the final nudge to convince me to further my education.”
Anderson attended the University of Missouri, majoring in agricultural economics with a minor in agricultural mechanization. When he graduated, he went to work in the seed industry, first with Missouri Foundation Seeds and then the S+S Seed Farm as a plant manager. It was that experience, along with that all-important college degree, that brought Anderson the MFA scholar into the MFA fold as an employee. In 1996, Anderson joined up with MFA as a production and marketing specialist. Since then, he has become a large part of making MFA’s MorSoy soybean line a successful brand.
With Anderson behind the scenes, the philosophy of MorSoy has flourished. But that takes work. The goal for the brand is to select seed that best fits local growing conditions and then multiply seed beans locally. So any given day, you can find Anderson back in the fields of the Midwest evaluating soybeans, talking to farmers and making decisions that will help his fellow agriculturists ply their trade. For Anderson, the foundation proved an open door into farming of another sort—he’s a soybean farmer’s soybean farmer. And looking back on his career path, Anderson believes that the rural focus of MFA Foundation scholarships remains important to students who, like him, might need a nudge to push on to higher education.
“One thing that always stood out to me was that even after going through some reorganization and closing of local stores, the MFA Foundation continued to support local youth through the scholarships. I’m thankful for being honored with the scholarships, and without it, I might not have had that opportunity to further my education,” said Anderson.
That’s why we’re celebrating 50 years of the MFA Foundation scholarship. It’s a celebration for the people of Polo, Marceline and Osage Bend. It is in these small places, these places close to home, that agriculture’s future is fostered. Agriculture needs its youth as much as we need seed for next year’s crop and the breeding stock that bears tomorrow’s herd. The MFA Foundation has understood this need for 50 years and invested each year in rural youth. The people that we’ve seen through these stories and thousands of stories untold are agriculture’s underpinning. The investment will continue.
MFA Foundation Scholarship details
• MFA Foundation scholarships are offered to high school seniors in communities where MFA agencies (such as MFA Agri Service Centers, MFA Oil Company bulk plants and propane plants, and other MFA agencies.
• The amount of the scholarship is $2,000 and is applied toward the student's freshman year of college. It is not renewable.
• High school seniors can apply for the scholarship by obtaining an application from their high school counselor during the month of February. The completed application must be returned to the counselor's office by March 15.
• The scholarship winner is selected by a local committee of three to five persons. The committee should include a farmer, a businessman, and a high school official. In making its selection, the committee considers:
• The applicant's interest in furthering his/her education by engaging in studies relating to agriculture or other fields of study that benefit rural life.
• The applicant's participation and leadership in school, church, and community activities.
• The applicant's reputation for good citizenship and good moral character.
• The applicant's financial need, sources of income, and willingness to work.
• The applicant's satisfactory academic progress.
• The scholarship may be used at any accredited college or university to pursue any course of study.
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