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Missouri ag groups disappointed in veto

“A sad day for agriculture” is what Missouri Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Mike Deering calls Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of two ag bills earlier this week.  Deering says he doesn’t blame the legislature for attaching a measure to that ag-heavy legislation that would have moved captive deer from under Conservation Department regulation to Ag Department oversight – Nixon’s stated reason for vetoing the bills…“When you look at the deer issue the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association fully supports that. Every other cervid is regulated by the Department of Agriculture except the white-tailed deer. We’re not talking about all deer, we’re talking about the captive deer. And it makes logical sense that if the department of ag regulates elk, cervids and other kinds of deer that they would also regulate the domestic captive deer population as well.”

The Dairy Revitalization Act, which the Missouri Dairy Association’s Dave Drennan says would have given a lifeline to the state’s dairy producers, was part of the bills that were axed.  Drennan tells Brownfield Ag News, “The bottom line was, we’re trying to maintain a local milk supply here in the state and the fact of the matter is we’re importing 60% of our needs from other states.”

Drennan says the 13 groups that support the bills will regroup and hope lawmakers will override the veto.  Drennan says, “Cattlemen’s, ourselves, the Poultry Federation, Farm Bureau, Corn and Soybean Growers, the Pork Association – we’re all going to take a look at that and assess what we think we need to get done.  I would be hopeful that the General Assembly would override the veto because of all the concerns we’ve got and all the people that are affected by this veto.”  The Missouri legislature’s veto session begins September 10th (2014.)

~Missourinet contributed to this report~

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