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Missouri legislature passes Omnibus Ag Bill

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An agriculture bill containing many provisions for Missouri farmers and ranchers is on its way to the governor.

Among other things, the omnibus ag bill increases weight limits for grain trucks, allows for a vote on a state Beef Checkoff and protects livestock operators that are open to the public from frivolous lawsuits.

Senate Sponsor Brian Munzlinger, a farmer himself, says all the provisions are equally important, “It’s really hard to say one thing more than another – It’s just a very important bill for agriculture.”

Mike Deering, executive vice president of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, says expanding the state’s equine liability waiver to include all livestock operations is a big one. For example, he tells Brownfield Ag News, “If I had a member who invited a bunch of fourth graders over to their farm to get a better sense of what agriculture is all about in the state and one of them decides to go pet the bull and runs away and gets hurt – that family farmer should not be put out of business because of that.”

Deering says the livestock liability waiver is modeled after a bill passed in Arkansas.

Governor Jay Nixon has said he would sign the omnibus ag bill because it doesn’t contain the provision he didn’t like last year having to do with deer management. Nixon vetoed a bill WITH the deer provision in it last year.

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