Strengthening Agriculture in Missouri
If you ask anyone what is Missouri’s most important industry, they may offer you several guesses, but there’s only one right answer: agriculture.
In 2016, agriculture related industries contributed over $88 billion toward our state’s economy. That’s a lot of money, but Missouri’s ag industry contributes more than just money. At its most basic level, Missouri agriculture feeds people around the state, the country and even around the world.
With this kind of impact, it is easy to recognize that agriculture is not only important to our state’s current success, but it also plays a vital role in ensuring the future prosperity of Missouri. As a result, I sponsored Senate Bill 391 during this year’s legislative session. This bill, which was approved by the General Assembly and now heads to the governor’s desk, creates a uniform, statewide agriculture policy when it comes to one of the industry’s most important tools: concentrated animal feeding operations, also known as CAFOs.
An animal feeding operation (AFO) is a facility that confines or stables animals for 45 days or more during a 12-month period. Essentially, a CAFO is an AFO that meets the additional requirement of confining more than 1,000 animal units. These units are not always a one-to-one animal ratio, but vary depending on the particular form of livestock. For instance, 1,000 animal units is roughly 2,500 swine, 700 dairy cows or 1,000 beef steers. At the end of the day, once a farm has over 1,000 animal units and meets the confinement requirements, it is generally considered a CAFO.
While CAFOs have been met with some criticism, it’s important to understand the impact they have on our food supply. Over the past few decades, there has been a noticeable shift toward larger farming operations. These larger operations have also introduced more efficiencies driven by mechanical innovations and technological improvements. These efficiencies, in turn, have helped lower costs and increased food production. This yields more profit for farmers and cheaper food for consumers.
The Missouri General Assembly understands the value of these farming operations, many of which remain family owned despite their large size. Senate Bill 391 works to remedy the issue of the current patchwork of cumbersome county regulations that can hamper the success of these farms. By creating a uniform agriculture policy based on fact-based state regulations, I believe SB 391 ensures Missouri’s agricultural industry remains strong for the next generation, and it enables this important industry to succeed in every corner of the state. I am glad to see SB 391 receive approval from my colleagues and make its way to the governor’s desk for his consideration.
Please feel free to contact my office at (573) 751-2076. For information about my committee assignments or sponsored legislation, please visit my official Missouri Senate website at senate.mo.gov/Bernskoetter.