History surrounds us when we choose to pay attention. MFA founder William Hirth lies in state at Rock Hill cemetery just north of Rush Hill, Mo. Though that is in the very neighborhood in which I grew up, I didn't know it until about a dozen years ago. I discovered the fact on a windy, summer-drought afternoon when I'd been out scouting corn for the University of Missouri. I was drawn to Rock Hill cemetery in search of lunchtime shade. Outside the cemetery fence, a new stone marker announced that Hirth, who rested there, was the founder of MFA.

It's the curse of youth, I suppose, to have a narrow worldview. All this time, even as my school bus crossed a patchwork of Rush Hill rural roads, I didn't know Hirth hailed from Audrain County.

For that matter, when MFA feed trucks delivered feed to my FFA sows and feeder hogs, I didn't make much of the fact that I was participating in a cooperative. I remember regarding the grind and mix fees with some disdain, not considering the affordable service compared to the prohibitive investment I'd have to make to avoid it.

And a few years earlier, in the 1980s, when I was issued a check for a bond I'd held from MFA, I didn't consider that the double-digit interest rate was anything more than a good thing for me. I hadn't considered that paying me almost double the initial principal was a hardship on MFA at the time.

These days I blame my ignorance of all that on the insolence of youth, and ironically, I make my living inside the headquarters for MFA Incorporated.

Just inside the entrance of our corporate headquarters is a brass relief plaque of William Hirth. When I pass it I can't help but wonder what Hirth would make of modern agriculture and the way MFA has led agriculture when possible and adapted when necessary.

Hirth had to know when he started pushing for the formation of farm clubs (which ultimately led to modern day cooperatives and MFA) that some farmers would join out of a spirit of cooperation and that some would join strictly because cooperation brought individual benefit. That is what made his idea so long lasting and dynamic. Because acting in one's self-interest (even for the ignorantly young) is not incongruent with cooperation.

In the end, a cooperative is about economic power, with the root of all economics being individual.

Back when Hirth started building support for farm clubs, corn was a half dollar per bushel in an economy where the GDP was measured in millions. Today corn is about $2.50 in an economy with a more than $10 trillion GDP. For farmers, that's not a good improvement over time. So agriculture has changed in scale to make up for the difference, extracting gains through efficiency where the market is too lean for thicker income-side margins.

And whereas the first farm club organized by Hirth made an initial purchase of twine, today MFA deals in a diverse portfolio of products and services. We move tons of fertilizer, seed and feed and provide advanced services in agronomy, precision farming and livestock marketing. And we still offer everyday farm supplies like animal health products, fence, feeders and yes, twine.

Hirth's notion that, if organized, farmers' interest in helping themselves could help each other has proved itself.

That's something to think about if you ever happen past Rock Hill cemetery.

MFA celebrates its 90th anniversary this month.