2019 saw the most egregious attack ever on local control with the fight against and passage of Senate Bill 391. Our voices made the CAFO bill one of the most contentious in the whole legislative session. How worried were they? Well, Corporate Ag’s response to our power was to hire 7 new lobbyists in the final weeks of the session in order to drown out the voices of tens of thousands of real Missourians. The silver lining: hundreds of new leaders from across the state and political spectrum stepped up and organized in their communities to fight for our right to local control and show that protecting our communities is not a partisan issue.
The momentum around stopping corporate factory farms is BIG—and it’s not going away. While SB 391 is being challenged in court, we have been on the road all across Missouri on our “CAFO Accountability Tour”. So far, over 1,500 rural Missourians have turned out and stood up for local control—working to protect family farms and our communities, and holding our elected representatives accountable for their votes supporting out-of-state and foreign-owned factory farms over their neighbors, their constituents and all Missourians. With your support, we will ensure that Local Control will be a key issue in 2020 and beyond.
Legislators thought they could quietly get away with passing Senate Bill 391. Rural legislators chose to put the interests of out-of-state and foreign-owned corporations over rural citizens, local democracy, and independent family farmers. But we–along with your help–are working to hold them accountable to the people they are supposed to be representing.
We’ve been to Bates County, Cedar County, Taney County, Jefferson County, Moniteau County, Boone County, Hickory County, Cole County and Christian County, just to name a few.
And, we’re not finished— actually, we’re just getting started. We’re going to continue to crisscross the state, helping organize public meetings, listening to your stories, and working to make sure your voice is heard– from our county commissioners to our representatives and senators– the message is clear about where we stand on local control versus corporate control. We’re mapping our way across the state–stay tuned to see when we will be near you.
Hundreds and hundreds of farm and rural citizens have turned out for public meetings and meetings with county commissioners and health boards. Just since June, over 40 media articles have been generated across the state with our local control message and 17 letters to the editor and op-eds have run in support of local control. And thousands of people have engaged with and shared our posts on Facebook!
So, What Does All This Add Up To?
All of the important work and power we all built together during the fight to stop Senate Bill 391 continues to grow bigger every day!
People across the state are angry. We hear it everywhere: rural Missourians don’t understand how our elected representatives could blatantly sell us out to corporate interests that have no accountability to our communities, our farms, and our way of life.
With your help, all of us can– and will— continue to build the power to hold our elected representatives accountable to the people who have lived, worked, and farmed in rural Missouri for generations.
Want to organize an event in your town? Let us know & we can add a stop on our Local Control CAFO Tour! See below for more ways to take action.
Pat Campbell, MRCC member from Taney County, opens the Local Control meeting at the Taneyhills Community Library in Branson. The crowd of over 80 packed the room.
Cedar County citizens fill the Cedar County Court House at a Local Control Meeting.
Darvin Bentlage, cattle & grain farmer and MRCC leader from Barton County, talks to the crowd about living next to 3 Iowa-based factory farms.
100 people showed up at the McCarty Senior Center in Wheatland, MO (Hickory County) to hear about our state legislature taking Local Control away from Missouri’s rural counties through Senate Bill 391. Jeff Jones, MRCC member and 4th generation Missouri cattle and grain farmer from Callaway County, described the 10,000 sows (Iowa owned) that recently moved 3/10th’s of a mile to the northeast of his families home.
MRCC’s Local Control Tour Continues with Right to Harm documentary screenings statewide.
Here’s how you can help:
- Speak up! Share your story, experience, and knowledge at the meeting. Challenge the corporate spin that will inevitably be offered by opponents of local control.
- Write a letter-to-the-editor to your local newspaper about the importance of Local Control and the difference between independent family farms and corporate factory farms.
- Want to organize an event in your town? Let us know & we can add a stop on our Local Control CAFO Tour! See below for more ways to take action.
- Join the MRCC family by becoming a member today! Be a part of this incredible work to protect our food, environment, family farms and local communities. Click HERE.
Help us build even more power in Missouri to stop the undue influence of corporate money on our democracy and lives. It’s more important than ever.
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