"I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us."-- Theodore Roosevelt One thing that Missouri has always prided itself on is its natural beauty. With lush emerald green hillsides, deep, panoramic views that our bluffs have to offer and scenic rivers that time has either forgotten about or refused to mess with perfection. It's our haunting and alluring terrain that inspires the wanderlust in countless folks from around the country. No doubt that majestic charm is what drew our ancestors from the Appalachian mountains to settle down here. Even now, this call places calls out to people from across the country and put roots down. But now there's an eminent threat that is coming to our doorstep that will destroy our pristine natural bewitching scenery. And that threat is CAFO (Condensed Animal Farming Operations). In fact, Missouri has about 500 CAFO across the state and 18 that fall under Class 1A (massive operations) with at least 24 operations being owned by a Chinese corporation called SmithField. CAFO poses issues of putting small farms out of business, and polluting our environment, but also raises the concern of foreign corporations owning American farmland. And it's a bit of an unfortunate and cringe-worthy truth that I agree with Dan Crenshaw that it does possibly cause a threat to our national security. There's that. Now if you're wondering what CAFO's are they're known as Condensed Animal Farming Operations or what we refer to as "Big Ag". Basically, these places are like massive feedlots that cram as many animals as possible into one pen. It's a grotesque practice that most small farmers frown upon. For lots of reasons including the inhumanity involved but also it messes with their lively hood and the environment. CAFOs like Smithfield tend to be one of the biggest causes of waterways pollution in the state. Smithfield was actually fined not too long ago for spilling 300,000 gallons of manure into local waterways. Events like this affect the groundwater (where we get our drinking water) through contamination but our surface waterways that kill the aquatic life. And we all know without aquatic life ecosystem dies off, which will put an end to one of our favorite past times of fishing. These places also wreak havoc on our air quality. The odor of ammonia and manure is it gets into everything. And that's not even mentioning the large amounts of emissions and greenhouse gases these places produce like methane. Aside from the fact, that this kind of exposure puts us at risk for developing respiratory issues. Did I also mention CAFOs also are major insect breeding grounds for insects like flies, mosquitoes, and parasites? Oh yes, all the creepy crawlies that inherited spread diseases like West Nile, malaria, and bacteria like E.Coli. Regardless of political views, I think we can all agree that CAFOs are bad news for both the environment and our health. I should also mention that if you're into land investment or looking to buy a house that's around a CAFO--The property value is much lower than anywhere else. Nobody wants the land that's been so heavily polluted that it's virtually inhabitable and smells so putrid that heaven itself can smell it. Now, you're probably wondering how this kind of thing might affect us here in the Ozarks since we don't have a lot of them like up in the north part of the state does. Well, there's a law that was passed by Mo Leg back in 2019 SB 391 that bans counties across the state from putting any kind of regulations on CAFO. Ah, yes, there's Mo Leg has been chipping away from local control for ages, but I digress because that's a topic for another day. What might come as a surprise or it doesn't, is that Mo Leg has actively diluted the regulations on CAFO since 2013 and also made it easier for foreign entities to come in and buy up our land. I mean China already owns over 146,000 acres of land in the state of Missouri. This brings the question of what's going to stop a foreign entity from buying up our home and doing the same thing as they've done in another place. Well, we can be sure that Mo Leg isn't going to protect our home as they've already proved that to other parts of the state. That would mean that they would come in and destroy our beautiful forests and pollute our mystic fjords that have drawn lots of folks to the area. It would turn our home into an inhabitable place of destitution. Now, am I saying that's what's going on now? No, I'm not but I think it's a matter of time before CAFOs start expanding in this part of the state, considering that we're the second-largest agricultural hub for the state of Missouri. With all this starting to come out into the light of day of the misgivings of corporate greed, it's always wise to vigilante and pushes back when needed. Now is the time to take Theodore Roosevelt's words and example to heart and protect what we love the most and start preserving our natural resources to give future generations the chance to explore and be mystified by the very wonders of the place we call home.
Much Love and Peace out, Jojo a few links to look up CAFOs and what's been in the news. Or type in CAFO into google and it will pull up numerous articles on the topic from legitimate sources. https://missouriindependent.com/2022/03/09/missouri-fines-cafo-18000-for-polluting-streams-with-300000-gallons-of-waste/https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/docs/understanding_cafos_nalboh.pdf
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