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Farmer says ordinance would harm next generation

A Moniteau County agriculture teacher and farmer who spoke against a proposed county health ordinance on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations said those kinds of restrictions will drive young people out of agriculture.  Gary Reichel said he spoke with ag teachers in counties where CAFOs have some sort of restriction.

“I asked them (Ag teachers) point blank,” Reichel said. “I said, how has your county grown? He said they haven’t.  They’re stagnant, they’re dead, there’s nothing in terms of growth of agriculture coming into a county that has a health ordinance.”

Reichel said the next step is to create an outreach program that would allow farmers to work with the health board.

“We need to come together and get an outreach program that’s going to allow us to prosper as a county and come united instead of divided.”

Jeanne Heuser is a resident of Moniteau County. She supports the ordinance and is worried that manure from CAFOs will leak into the ground water and that the state DNR allows CAFOs to be built anywhere. When she was corrected by a Missouri Farm Bureau staff member about that claim, Heuser stood by it, “I’m pretty sure about DNR’s authority, yeah,” Heuser said. “I’ll be happy to learn that but I’m pretty sure about it.”

One of the main reasons many are against the health ordinance is because it will be in direct conflict with Senate Bill 391 said Casey Wasser, a Moniteau County resident.

“Senate Bill 391 already puts additional regulations on how liquified manure is applied,” Wasser said. “The problem that I have is you can’t make a compromise on an ordinance that’s going to conflict with state law. So, no matter what you do or what you put in, if its in a conflict you’re going to have a lawsuit and that’s not what this county needs, that’s not what agriculture needs. It’s the largest contributor to this tax base and we need to make sure we protect that.”

SB 391 states “Under this act, any orders, ordinances, rules, or regulations promulgated by county commissions and county health center boards shall not impose standards or requirements on an agricultural  operation and its appurtenances that are inconsistent with or more stringent than any provisions of law, rules, or regulations relating to the Department of Health and Senior Services, environmental control, the Department of Natural Resources, air conservation, and water pollution.” The bill was signed by Gov. Parson in May and will go into effect August 29.

The Moniteau county health board tabled the ordinance at Monday’s meeting and said it would put three farmers on the study group before its July meeting.