SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Tracing the history of the Ozark Food Processors Association would challenge the most skilled genealogist. It has been known by nine names during its 100 years, counting those of some ancestor organizations that merged with other parts of its family tree. The organization that met in Springdale March 28-29 for its annual convention — “Building for the Next Century” — was first known in 1906 as the Missouri Valley Canners Association.

OFPA, with its headquarters based at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's Institute of Food Science and Engineering, is today a diverse organization of companies specializing in processing, production, supplies, research and many other phases of the food industry. Its membership spreads far beyond the confines of the Ozark Mountains. But for much of its first decades, the canning industry was its primary focus.

A canning plant in Springdale had been in business from 1885 to 1903. Another one was founded in Odessa, Mo., in 1900. Others followed in Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas and soon formed the Missouri Valley Canners Association. An early history of the organization notes that “as the number of canners dwindled, they became outnumbered in the annual meetings by the supply men, so in 1958, the name, intent and purpose were changed, and a purely social group came into being under the name of Ozark Canners, Processors, Brokers and Supplymen Association.”

In the early 1970s the OFPA refocused its role to provide a platform for strengthening the food processing industry. Its annual conventions include educational sessions, a varied lineup of guest speakers and an exposition that provides suppliers and customers the opportunity to connect.

OFPA’s relationship with the university food science department first became prominent with the 1958 establishment of the Physiology and Processing Laboratory at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Fayetteville. Its research program began attracting interest from regional food processors, who met at the Processing Lab in 1961. The next year, OFPA donated seed money toward construction of the addition of a new wing to the building that was home to what would become known as the Department of Food Science. That same year, the association (then known as the Ozark Canners and Freezers Association) moved its headquarters to that building. The organization also made donations in 1967 and 1984 to help build two other additions to the food science department’s building.

The food science department has not been the only one to benefit. OFPA has also awarded grants to the horticulture, plant pathology and entomology departments’ research efforts. OFPA annually awards scholarships to students in food science, with 423 scholarships awarded since the program began in the 1960s.