Former associate editor Glenn Hensley remembers MFA's farm magazine.

Editor's note
The history of MFA's official publication, Today's Farmer, goes back to the roots of the cooperative. The publication started with the October 1908 issue under the name of The Missouri Farmer and Breeder. It continued under that title until February 1912, when it was shortened to The Missouri Farmer. Its owner and editor was William Hirth, founder of MFA.

Hirth used The Missouri Farmer as a forum to speak out for farmers and to gather the support to build an effective farm organization. In that sense, the publication was unique in that it preceded the founding of MFA. In 1917, The Missouri Farmer became MFA's official publication.

In November 1967, the magazine assumed a new title, Today's Farmer.

From the early days of non-mechanized agriculture, to today's global scene, agriculture has changed in MFA's trade territory.

As the communications vehicle for MFA Incorporated, Today's Farmer keeps up with those changes and its obligation to represent the values of the cooperative. We do that by showing how the company is a credible source of progressive agricultural information.

And to keep that credibility, we will examine techniques, practices and issues that help farmers and ranchers better meet the challenges of the present and future.

As best I can remember it, this is the magazine's story from December 1948 until the fall of 1959. This was a period in which the publication saw many changes in both its physical appearance and content. For those of us who were on the staff in that period of time, it was both a challenge and an enjoyable experience in a multitude of ways.

Let's start with August 1948 when my name first appeared on the publication's masthead. It was then the respected farm journal, The Missouri Farmer. I just started at the magazine after a call from the editor, H. E. Klinefelter.

My assigned duties were to attend and report on MFA events, both photographically and in text, such things as major MFA cooperative annual meetings, exchange openings, agricultural happenings, farm club programs, anything that might generate MFA farmer cooperative news. As a result, I soon became quite familiar with all of the MFA operations across the state. That's what Kline wanted of me. If I were to be his right-hand man, then I needed to know the whole MFA story.

Kline's duties increasingly were to work with MFA President Fred V. Heinkel. Kline was an authority on legislative matters, wrote Mr. Heinkel's speeches and prepared Mr. Heinkel's monthly article for The Missouri Farmer. Kline assigned specific coverages for me to handle but otherwise began to divorce himself from routine magazine production activity.

At that time, the magazine's appearance had not changed much since Bill Hirth brought it into being. I was "chomping at the bit" to see it appear in a more modern format. Kline was not opposed to some changes, but warned that they should be subtle and slow, for he feared MFA members would object.

The first change we put into place was elimination of the "editorial" from the front cover, substituting an appropriate, seasonal photo. The new format first appeared on the September 1948 issue, the photo featuring our own, on-staff model, Mary Alice Robertson.

The magazine was produced monthly in the traditional (at that time) farm paper format: large physical size, black and white, on newsprint paper stock. The printing plant was an old, letterpress system dating from the turn of the century. The front cover, then, took on a new and revolutionary appearance and nary a letter of opposition showed up. Kline breathed a sigh of relief because he expected there to be an adverse reader reaction of some kind. Even Fred Heinkel commented, "You boys went out on a limb for what you did to the front of The Missouri Farmer, but it sure looks nice."

Modernization of the magazine's printing plant was keeping pace with its editorial presentation at the time. A new, two-color letterpress was installed and the May 1949 issue sported a bright, two-color front cover.

As time went on, members saw the magazine change from a dated farm paper format to a true magazine format with its front cover sporting appropriate and seasonal full-color, cover photos. Many new editorial features appeared, too. One of these was the inside back cover's "Just a Closing Thought," which still appears monthly. Lula Lamme, an MFA member, composed the poems that accompanied appropriate photos at that time.

After a stint managing the MFA printing plant, I transferred back to the magazine staff. By then, Collins was working with President Fred Heinkel, writing his monthly articles for the magazine. I did general interest stories, MFA activity coverages and extensive photo duties. I left in the fall of 1959 to take another editorial position in Chicago.

Glenn Hensley now resides in Kirkwood, Mo.