News
MO lawmakers pass Right to Farm measure
The Missouri legislature has approved the much-debated Right to Farm proposed constitutional amendment that will now go to voters next year. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday, after language* was added back in to protect the rights of local governments to govern farms and ranches as already granted them in the state constitution.
Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says, on the whole, the measure sends an important message to animal rights activists in Missouri…
“We care about animals and we want to treat them humanely but don’t believe they have the same rights as you or I and I think it is an important step forward in that respect.”
Hurst tells Brownfield his group is pleased overall with the passage of the measure. He points out that counties have always had the right to zone, so in that sense, he says the added language is okay…
“We’re not, absolutely not putting county health ordinances IN the constitution and I don’t think that the language can be interpreted to mean that.”
But, there was another compromise that had to be made, Hurst tells Brownfield Ag News, “More importantly, we think, the original language had language to forbid the regulating of farms and ranches by initiative petition. That has been taken out, although we still feel that it does put some limits on what you can do by initiative petition.”
Hurst expects all in Missouri agriculture to get behind the ballot measure and expects voters to pass it next fall.
*[“To protect this vital sector of Missouri’s economy the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state subject to duly authorized powers of any conferred by Article Six of the constitution of Missouri.”]
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Wow, This is great news! Now we are free to treat our animals how we want. Puppies out in cages in the heat with fleas and ticks in Missouri is my own business. Horses raised for meat, is my business, it is our G-d Given Right to abuse animals any way we see fit. G-d Bless America
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Thank You for passing this. We in Missouri cherish our right to farm and raise animals. We are the home of Monsanto and Puppy mills. We are the Show Me State.
BIG BIG CONGRATS.