Entwined in history

What may seem, at first glance, to be a minor purchase—an order for 1,150 pounds of binder twine collectively made by seven farmers on March 10, 1914—launched a movement that became the billion-dollar cooperative now known as MFA Incorporated.

Yes, MFA’s entire history is tied to twine.

That first order was placed with the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, a fact that introduces another historical note of interest. There was, indeed, a twine factory inside the state prison, an operation staffed by inmates under a contract labor system. In fact, at one time the prison housed a number of similar enterprises, including five shoe factories, a saddle tree factory, a clothing factory and a broom factory.

The twine factory was added to the penitentiary in 1905, and historical records say it was considered “one of the nation’s best.” The plant was prolific, too, annually turning out 3 million pounds of high-grade binder twine in its heyday.

Before modern combine harvesters were developed, binder twine was an essential farm material. Binder twine, the forerunner to baler twine, was used to tie bundles of harvested grain together. Binder twine used in the Midwest usually was made with sisal fibers, derived from the leaves of a tropical plant largely grown in Mexico and Central and South America.

Sisal is still a popular material for today’s “baler” twine, which replaced the need for “binder” twine after combines became common and the first automatic hay balers were developed in the late 1930s.

Manufacturing binder twine and other consumer goods within the confines of the state penitentiary was part of a plan to make the prison profitable while providing skills to incarcerated people. The plan was somewhat controversial, since the inmates essentially provided cheap labor for these businesses and took jobs from the public.

Prison reform eventually brought enough scrutiny to the working conditions and operations of these factories that they closed or relocated. In 1917, the state legislature adopted a law prohibiting the use of convict labor for profit by private companies, and the factories were converted to manufacture goods for state agencies. The Missouri State Penitentiary itself operated until October 2004, when the new Jefferson City Correctional Center was opened about 10 miles outside of the capital.    

Right image: This letter from MFA’s archives confirms an order for twine from Missouri Farmers 
Association in 1916. It’s signed by prison warden D.C. McClung and addressed to Aaron Bachtel, president of MFA’s first farm club who would go on to serve 20 years on the cooperative’s board of directors. 

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