Re-posted from this morning without links....thanks for all the shares! Yesterday a non-aggie friend turned to me and said, Youre a farmer, whats the deal with this Amendment 1? First, let me say this is a relatively new friend who was about to learn the hard way not to ask me loaded questions. I did my best to keep it short….well…my version of short… Second... thats right, I am a farmer! Thats what is says on our tax return, believe it or not. Sometimes I get so busy growing produce and flowers I forget that, even if its not beef cows or field corn, its still farming. Third...How did this non-ag friend suddenly become so curious about something that aggies have been talking about and promoting for the better part of the past year? Why, the week before the vote, is Face Book Land suddenly blown up with non-aggies coming out against the Right to Farm!!? It defies logic…. My non-aggie friends may have seen a few pro-Amendment 1 (Right to Farm) statuses prior to this past week. These have been posted by the numerous legitimate grass roots Missouri Ag organizations trying to educate voters. They have been shared by real Missouri aggies who understand that Amendment 1 is worded to protect Missouris #1 industry from a very nebulous and un-specific, yet very REAL threat. That threat is outside interests; “In a desperate attempt to keep the door open for future regulation, outside interest groups are spending thousands of dollars to spread myths and misinformation about Right to Farm in Missouri.” Last week the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) dumped hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars into Missouri’s economy. Do not thank them. HSUS is playing you. The same way they play you to get you to send that donation for those poor, sad puppies and kitties in their ads. The donation those poor sad puppies and kitties only ever see one or two cents out of every dollar worth. That donation…the $19/month (or whatever it is) that you sent for the puppies and kitties is actually being used now, here in Missouri “to air factually inaccurate ads in an attempt to turn Missouri against its most important industry. Mike Deering, Vice President of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, exposed this tactic in an Op-Ed he wrote for the Missouri Times: Vice President of Outreach and Engagement for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Joe Maxwell and his sidekicks packed a lot of misleading information, topped with outright lies into a “confusion grenade” and threw it out in the middle of a crowd and watched as innocent Missourians are caught up in a web of intentional head scratching.” Additionally, I believe HSUS has set loose the Face Book trolls. Sic’ed ‘em on us as it were. Nearly every pro-Amendment 1 post put out by grass roots Missouri Ag organizations is now suddenly being blown up with rants and illogical ramblings about the Chinese buying up all of Missouri, Monsanto becoming completely uncontrollable and “family farms” being taken over by Corporate Ag if Amendment 1 passes. PuhLEASE!!!! The Chinese did buy one Missouri ag business earlier this year…and now they can’t buy up any more because there is a law that’s been in place for a long time limiting how much Missouri property foreigners can buy and China is limit out. Monsanto is a multi-national corporation that operates under hundreds of federal (not to mention international) laws and regulations far stricter than what can be undone by one little sentence added to Missouri’s Constitution. And guess what, about 80% of American “family farms” are incorporated! That’s right, 80% of the farmers you know are “Corporate Ag”. Family farmers have learned that to protect their business and livelihood, becoming a corporation is a smart legal and fiscal move. Additionally, only about 4% of American farming operations are not family farms. And one final little fact, the number of “small family farms” has increased in recent years and is showing every sign of continuing healthy growth. I say again to all my non-aggie friends…HSUS is playing you….hard! HSUS is the source of this sudden confusion about something you thought you understood. HSUS does not want this kind of constitutional legal protection being available to an industry they have pledged to put completely out of business. And they have no qualms about using any emotionally charged tactic or any factoid they can spin to destroy the livelihood of the 1% of the American citizens who are dedicated to feeding you and clothing you and all the other things American Agriculture provides, state by state. Missouri is their current target. Please vote yes on Amendment 1, the “Right to Farm”, and help secure another tool for Missouri farmers to use in their chosen career…providing food for us all. To see the links I used to support and help share my opinion, please see a post from earlier today on my personal timeline. Thanks, Later, Beth
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 22:25:42 +0000
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