Senate Bill 12 further entrenches foreign ownership of Missouri farmland and moves forward a very unpopular and unnecessary beef check-off tax!
Last year, we all took action and got Governor Nixon to veto an agriculture omnibus bill that was bad for Missouri’s independent farm families and our food supplyUnfortunately, the Senate passed an almost identical version of that deeply flawed omnibus bill to keep their corporate benefactors satisfied at the expense of the rest of us.The House Agriculture Policy Committee will be conducting a public hearing on this bill on Tuesday, February 17th at 12:00 pm in House Hearing Room 6 and we have to step up now to stop this bad legislation from becoming law!
Please contact the members of the committee listed below and tell them to “VOTE NO” on SB 12 because:
SB 12 includes language that further codifies the foreign ownership of Missouri farmland. This language makes it easier for foreign corporations to purchase Missouri farmland and decreases the ability of the Department of Agriculture to track the amount of foreign owned land and to enforce Missouri law limiting foreign owned land to 1%. We believe that foreign corporations should not be allowed to own ANY farmland in Missouri. We believe that foreign ownership of Missouri farmland should be further restricted not streamlined into business as usual.
SB 12 sets the groundwork for instituting a state beef check-off tax on top of the federal beef check-off that producers are already paying out. Missouri beef producers are already paying $2 million in federal check-off fees( $1 dollar a head for every head of cattle sold) . The current beef check-off program has not been a success. Its stated purpose is to promote beef, but in fact, beef consumption has plummeted by nearly 30%. And now they want a raise!! The groups who are pushing for this new check-off tax are the very same organizations who lobby to oppose Country of Origin Labeling and to increase foreign corporate ownership of Missouri farmland.
Please contact the committee members listed below and tell them to “VOTE NO” on SB 12–STOP Foreign Ownership of Missouri Farmland and STOP the Beef Checkoff Tax!
Rep. Sue Entlicher
(573) 751-1347
Sue.Entlicher@house.mo.gov
Rep. Tracy McCreery
(573) 751-7535
Tracy.McCreery@house.mo.gov
Rep. Patricia Pike
(573) 751-5388
Patricia.Pike@house.mo.gov
Rep. Deb Lavender
(573) 751-4069
Deb.Lavender@house.mo.gov
Rep. Bryan Spencer
(573) 751-1460
Bryan.Spencer@house.mo.gov
Rep. Don Rone
(573) 751-4085
Don.Rone@house.mo.gov
Rep. Ben Harris
(573) 751-2398
Ben.Harris@house.mo.gov
Rep. Tommie Pierson
(573) 751-6845
Tommie.Pierson@house.mo.gov
Rep. Joshua Peters
(573) 751-7605
Joshua.Peters@house.mo.gov
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