Missouri: VOTE YES ON RIGHT TO FARM, Amendment 1

There has been quite a frenzy of propaganda and misinformation coming forth about Missouri's Right To Farm,  Amendment One. Those who oppose it have been putting out  misinformation intended to confuse conscientious Missouri voters without the merit of FACTS to challenge the legislation. Meanwhile, there are those who have fallen prey to the environmental and animal rights activists’ terminology which does nothing but perpetuate false claims and fear mongering about agriculture, while providing NO FACTS to back their claims.

The radical animal rights and environmental activist organizations have made their ideology no secret, and DAILY they express their intentions to weaken American agriculture. It’s not a stretch to figure out what they intend to accomplish with their policies when one realizes the truth behind the veil of their exploitation. Missouri farmers and ranchers continue to be in the crosshairs of these radicals.

It's easy math: Animal rights groups, especially the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), have used the ballot measure process to incrementally increase onerous and burdensome regulations on animal agriculture. Since 1990, HSUS has betrayed voters in fourteen states by passing ballot initiatives imposing onerous, unreasonable, and costly regulations negatively impacting the pet, animal agriculture, hunting, and fishing trades while using the deceptive and emotional propaganda to fool the voters into passing their measures. HSUS continues to mislead well-intentioned Americans with their slick, high-dollar media campaigns to buy votes, even hoodwink elected representatives, into believing that their mission is to increase welfare standards for animals. 

Missouri has already seen the negative impact of an HSUS-driven ballot initiative.  In 2010, "The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act", also known as Proposition B passed by a narrow margin.  The passing of this measure, despite the heroic efforts by our state legislature to remove the unconstitutional elements, resulted in HSUS' intended consequences of a death blow to licensed, legitimate dog breeders and small business across the state of Missouri.  75% of state licensees got out of the business of dog breeding to avoid the onerous and costly changes now required in the Canine Cruelty Prevention Act.    

When will Americans finally wake up to the fact that these so-called "animal cruelty prevention" laws do NOTHING to stop unscrupulous operators.

This strategy follows a pattern established by HSUS to incrementally regulate farmers, ranchers, and the pet industry out of business resulting in HSUS' goal of fewer farms, fewer farmers, higher food prices, and the growing concern of a domestic food shortage.  

Accordingly, as a protection to those who grow and raise our food in Missouri, Amendment One protects against legislation or ballot initiatives seeking to harm Missouri agriculture.

If one really understands that the animal rights movement is dangerous (as this Truth Farmer article claims)  then STOP using the HSUS’ terminology ‘Factory Farm’ to describe those who grow and raise our food! Yes, that even includes production agriculture. By using that term, it is a perpetuation of the false claims and images that the animal rights and environmental radicals are putting forth to promote their anti-private property and so-called "sustainability" and green agenda.

The Chinn family farm, one of the largest upstanding pork producers in Missouri, is considered a “factory farm” in the eyes of HSUS and environmental activists. Please read this blog by a family farmer who has been smeared by the radical animal rights and environmental groups and have labeled her family farm a “factory farm.”   Link

The U.S. feeds the world. A pretty miraculous feat considering that less than 2% of our U.S. population comprises our total populace of farmers and ranchers today. And they have the ability to do so because of innovation and modern technology including genetically modified organisms (GMOs). My friend, a life-long rancher explains it beautifully in her blog here:  Link

This link provides 600 peer reviewed studies about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), none of which have produced any evidence whatsoever of health issues in humans or animals from eating foods made from grains grown from GMO seeds, or that they are any less safe than any other food available. This provides proof that GMOs are safer since they are the most tested foods in the world.  

You will NEVER find a farmer on the Fortune 500 list, and the very reason farms are getting larger and implementing more modern husbandry methods is VERY simple: the price you get for animal based products, minus the cost of producing the end product, is shrinking every year, especially with all the onerous regulatory changes which gives farmers three options: 1.) Exit the business. (Which is what the activists want.) 2.) Become larger and expect to make income from adding more animals by adding up petty profits to make a larger one. 3) Market to get higher prices and/or reduce cost of production by whatever method available, including medical related products.

Do your research before you vilify our food system and before the activists hoodwink American consumers into fundamentally transforming American agriculture out of existence. 

Thanks to our farmers and ranchers, we are blessed to live in a country with an affordable, safe, and abundant food supply with consumer choices beyond measure!  

Protect our precious Missouri farmers and ranchers from the harmful intentions of the radical activists seeking to fundamentally transform American agriculture out of existence! 

VOTE YES on Missouri's Right To Farm - Amendment One on August 5th, 2014.

Mindy Patterson
President
The Cavalry Group