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A third challenge to MO farming rights measure
Opponents of the Right to Farm Amendment passed by Missouri voters and upheld in a recount are challenging the proposal again, saying the ballot language was misleading and prejudicial.
Wes Shoemyer with Missouri’s Food for America says voters thought they were supporting rights for citizens. But he says the amendment itself refers to “farmers and ranchers,” and that means “non-citizens” such as the Chinese company that bought Smithfield Foods…“It’s quite clear to us that those rights were intentioned to extend well beyond Missouri citizens. In fact, the language differs so much it just says ‘farmers and ranchers’ in the official language.”
Dan Kleinsorge, with Missouri Farmers Care Coalition, which supports the amendment, says opponents know that Missouri has limits on foreign ownership of ag land and this latest action is suspicious… “They could have challenged that ballot language at any point from the time the legislature passed the amendment and the referendum to the voters and before the vote, which was over a year. I mean, this was passed out of the legislature in May 2013 and they didn’t think it was a big enough problem to challenge it then. But now, after the votes have already been counted, twice, they’ve decided to challenge it.”
Kleinsorge says he is not surprised by this challenge…“It really seems like a last-ditch effort from the opposition to try to derail Amendment One. You know, they lost at the ballot box. They lost again during a recount. It really shows they’ll stop at nothing to try to stop farmers’ rights in Amendment number one.”
The amendment passed by a thin margin of more than 24-hundred votes. Missouri’s Food for America with backing from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the Missouri Farmer Union and the Missouri Rural Crisis Center have petitioned the court to set aside the election results. Kleinsorge calls it “a last-ditch effort” from the opponents.
AUDIO: Interview with Dan Kleinsorge (5:00 mp3)
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