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joeinmo

The Missouri Right To Farm Bill is a scam

joeinmo 6b-7a
9 years ago

This August we will vote on a Constitutional Amendment to the Missouri Constitution, a very serious vote because Constituional Amendments once passed are hard to repeal.

The question you will be voting on sounds good on the surface, "you get the right to farm", but we already have a right to farm, a God given right. We don't need a government giving us something we already have. The Government Giveith, the Government Taketh Away.

The bill which has big money being poured in by Monsanto, Gargill and other giant mega farm suppliers has many problems.

One of the big ones, is that the ballot wording is not the actual wording of the law. If this was just a simple state code it could be corrected later, but this is a Constitutional Amendment and can't be changed.

The actual law is as follows:

No law shall be enacted which abridges the right of farmers and employ agricultural technology and modern livestock production and ranching practices.

This has several meanings: Unlike what the pushers of this law say,it has nothing to do with protecting your garden or small farm. It has everything to do with protecting mega farms and GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) manufacturers like Monsanto.

Hawaii recently banned all GMO's, this bill would forever make that virtually impossible.

Labeling, a person's right to know what is in the food they consume, would be forever an impossibility when it comes to knowing if the food you eat is genetically modified or just normal food.

I for one want to know if the crops I eat have roundup ready genes implanted in them so they don't die when they are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.

If you plant a field with non-GMO crops and pollen from your field contaminates a Monsanto Patented GMO field, you can be sued for preventing Monsanto or a Monsanto crop farmer from "employing their modern technology". This has already happened in Canada.

Monsanto is in the business of creating patented, self pollinating crops.

No need for bees and other pollinators, the crops do not reseed and pollinate themselves, therefore you must purchase from them. Most of their patented crops when contaminating a non-GMO crop will make it sterile.

Please investigate before you vote

Comments (7)

  • gldno1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you for this insight! I am always wary of anything sponsored by major corporations or our government!

  • helenh
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am against it also. I am glad others oppose it. I was thinking big hog farm or chicken operation and water pollution. No group should have more rights than any other group in my opinion. I think this bill is a response to the effort last year or so to stop puppy farms. My neighbors who are real cattle ranchers were afraid if they could go after puppy breeders, they could regulate their treatment of cattle. These people have five or so dogs in the house and love animals taking good care of their property and cattle. I was for regulation of dog breeders because I consider dogs furry people, but the dog people won. It is correct to think that sometimes the best intentions turn out to have unexpected consequences so it is best to be very careful passing laws.

  • Ozarker
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for taking the time to post this. I'll be voting against it.

  • oldgardenguy_zone6
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am in total agreement vote no on this one . GMOs haven't been around long enough to have been proven safe for humans they used to say tobacco was good for you

  • veggie_girl
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the post Joe, I agree.

  • joeinmo 6b-7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Interesting video on how Monsanto is trying to corner the market.

    GMO crops are patented, control the seeds and you control the market, and then other options are gone.

    Here is a link that might be useful: GMO trap for farmers video

  • joeinmo 6b-7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A nice column in the Joplin Globe from an area farmer. It makes one think, why did the legislature last year make it where foreign corporations could own farms in Missouri - (was specifically for a 50,000 acre Chinese Hog producer) yet not give the people of Missouri the right to vote if we want foreign ownership of farms in our state? Yet they want us to vote in this so-called right to farm that takes the word "Missouri" farmer out and just leaves the word farmer, why because it's for foreign farmers who are really giant corporations with huge acreage, it has nothing to do with family farms.

    Article starts here:
    Darvin Bentlage, guest columnist: Amendment 1: Who’s confusing whom?By Darvin Bentlage 08/01/2014 4:55 PM
    Something is terribly wrong when the language on the ballot differs so profoundly from the actual language of the amendment. The ballot language makes voters think they are voting to protect the “rights of Missouri citizens,” but the only mention of Missouri in the text of Amendment 1 refers to the Missouri economy. “Citizens” are missing entirely from the amendment.
    Clearly, legislators of this state believe that corporate farming benefits the economy more than independent family farmers.
    Missouri’s Constitution consists of about 65,000 words compared to 7,500 words in the U.S. Constitution. The federal amendments are clear and definitive while Amendment 1 is vague as to what will infringe on farming even referring to provisions of Article VI to appear to protect local control.
    Agriculture has changed immensely in the past 20 years and who knows what lies down the road? What about water rights, like those being developed in Kansas that look to the future preservation of water for drinking and for agriculture? Adopting environmental regulations that protect natural resources as Arkansas has? Food safety, health impacts, labeling …the list goes on.
    Amendment 1 will forever leave the decisions about the definition of what is infringement and what is protected under Article VI to the courts paid for by taxpayers.

    Darvin Bentlage, guest columnist: Amendment 1: Who’s confusing whom?By Darvin Bentlage 08/01/2014 4:55 PM
    Something is terribly wrong when the language on the ballot differs so profoundly from the actual language of the amendment. The ballot language makes voters think they are voting to protect the “rights of Missouri citizens,” but the only mention of Missouri in the text of Amendment 1 refers to the Missouri economy. “Citizens” are missing entirely from the amendment.
    Clearly, legislators of this state believe that corporate farming benefits the economy more than independent family farmers.
    Missouri’s Constitution consists of about 65,000 words compared to 7,500 words in the U.S. Constitution. The federal amendments are clear and definitive while Amendment 1 is vague as to what will infringe on farming even referring to provisions of Article VI to appear to protect local control.
    Agriculture has changed immensely in the past 20 years and who knows what lies down the road? What about water rights, like those being developed in Kansas that look to the future preservation of water for drinking and for agriculture? Adopting environmental regulations that protect natural resources as Arkansas has? Food safety, health impacts, labeling …the list goes on.
    Amendment 1 will forever leave the decisions about the definition of what is infringement and what is protected under Article VI to the courts paid for by taxpayers.

    Here is a link that might be useful: read the rest here

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