What Are the Issues?

(1) Tina Herleth, LaPlata, President-Citizens Against a Polluted Environment (CAPE) detailed the difference between family farmers and corporate farmers. "Real family farmers give more back to the land than they take. They care for their animals, their neighbors and their community. We worship God, not money." In contrast, corporate hog owners don't even live in the state.

(2) John Ikerd, PhD., Agricultural Economist, University of Missouri-Columbia, College of Agriculture, Food and natural resources, called the economic benefits from corporate agriculture a "fallacy" stating that "the county eventually suffers long-term negative impacts."

(3) Mike Whitlock, M.D., (Schuyler County) confirmed that the documented health concerns are real and very serious. He explained that 'the sewage from 8,000 hogs is equivalent to 20,000 people, however, the sewage from corporate farms is untreated in open lagoons, exposing the community to a myriad of toxins.'

(4) Missouri Attorney General, Jay Nixon, said "I oppose legislative attempts to strip local government of the authority to regulate mega-farms, which can contain hundreds of thousands of hogs or other livestock. If officials at the local level determine that they want to have tougher standards for cleaner air or water for their constituents, they should have the right to do that. That right should not be taken away by state legislators who are swayed by multi-national agricultural corporations".

(5) Jim Libby, Linn County MO Commissioner, said that it was necessary for his county to step up and pass a county health ordinance to protect their citizens from factory farm pollution. He warned that special interest legislators, influenced by big hog money, were going to try to take away the county's right for local control again this next legislative session. "We need to be ready to fight for the right for local control when the session begins in January."

Missourians for Local Control is a network of organizations and individuals who believe that decisions about our communities should be made at the most local level possible, the level that at which the very people who are impacted can best participate. The above issues were raised by panelists at Truman State University, at an event, "Confined Animal feeding Operations Fact vs. Fiction", sponsored by Missourians for Local Control. http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/ra05/mlc1_05.html