Missouri Amendment One; It wasn’t about saving the Family Farm
Missouri Amendment One; It wasn’t about saving the Family Farm
For Immediate Release
September 13, 2014 For more information, contact: Richard Oswald (660)-787-0222
Missouri Farmers Union issues the following statement;
"Earlier this year when the Missouri legislature passed a bill placing the ‘right to farm’ Missouri
Constitutional Amendment One on the ballot, it was considered a shoo-in."
"Who could argue that agriculture wasn’t important?"
"Missouri Farmers Union suggested voters should read the vaguely worded two sentence
amendment, and also read between the lines and see the intent; Amendment One’s fuzzy wording
was an open invitation to multinational corporate agriculture. The Constitution trumps all law.
Missouri statues offering family farm protection from corporate powers were at stake."
"That proved to be a powerful argument for voting "no" on Amendment One."
"In the end, after a recount, Amendment One has passed by even less than the tiny early post
election margin of .3% of all votes cast. Another week of truth-telling before the vote would likely
have led to Amendment One’s defeat."
"Now that the smoke has cleared from one of the most onerous of ballot initiatives in our state,
investigative reporting from PBS (Public Broadcast Service) has revealed that the buyout of
Smithfield Foods, including its assets in Missouri, was backed by the government of the Peoples
Republic of China."
"Clearly Missouri Farmers Union and all the others who worked to defeat Amendment One saw the
issue for what it was, an orchestrated effort on the part of large corporations in partnership with a
few elected leaders to defeat Missouri’s statutory protection for family farms."
Missouri Farmers Union President Richard Oswald made the following statement "In accordance
with our written policy, Missouri Farmers Union remains committed to furthering and protecting
family farm agriculture in the state of Missouri. Now more than ever it is clear that the stabilizing
influence of both urban and rural families working the land to produce food for America is not only a
moral objective, but a patriotic one as well."