Right to Farm

Having been raised in Kansas with a large portion of my family tree coming from Missouri I tend to keep on eye on what happens in those two states. That’s why I have been following the Missouri Right to Farm Amendment, which just barely squeaked by when voters approved it this month. Interestingly, one would think that with a title like “right to farm” all those in the ag community would have been behind the amendment, but that was not the case. Even though the “right to farm” provision is focused on agriculture many of that state’s farmers are worried that this could change the face of farming in their state. On one side there is the hope that this measure will protect farmers and ranchers from new restrictive laws that would outlaw safe and accepted practices they currently use. On the flip side small farming operations worry that the measure will make it harder to hold large farming operations accountable for any problems in the future. As I mentioned earlier Missouri’s Right to Farm amendment passed by a very close margin, so close that there will undoubtedly be a recount - and we all know what generally happens with a recount. Needless to say, other will be closely watching what happens and carefully considering whether to attempt right to farm measures in their state.