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Oklahoma 'Right To Farm' Push About More Than Agricultural Practices

Attendees listen as former Missouri state senator Wes Shoemeyer speaks against Amendment 1 at the Missouri’s Food for America sign-making event at Café Berlin Friday, June 27, 2014 in Columbia, Missouri.
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Attendees listen as former Missouri state senator Wes Shoemeyer speaks against Amendment 1 at the Missouri’s Food for America sign-making event at Café Berlin Friday, June 27, 2014 in Columbia, Missouri.";s

Oklahoma voters have at least a year before seeing for and against state questions on the ballot in November 2016. But you might want to get used to hearing this phrase now: right-to-farm. It’s a divisive national issue that’s made its way to the Sooner State, and puts agriculture at odds with environmentalists and animal rights activists.

In Missouri, it was a fight between two sides that loathe each other. The right-to-farm amendment narrowly passed there in 2014, and not until after a recount. Part of Missouri’s constitution now reads like this: “The right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state.”

That sounds nice, but also broad, leaving plenty of room for allegations like this from former Missouri lawmaker Wes Shoemyer:

“There will be challenges of anything you can think of in the court system,” Shoemyer says. “Whether folks in the middle of the cities, say they’ve got a little patch of ground and decide they want to farm. Can they raise hogs and cattle right in their own backyard?”

Now Shoemyer works with the Humane Society of the United States, a main funder of the right-to-farm opposition in Missouri, and enemy of Farm Bureaus across the country who’ve pushed similar amendments in IndianaNorth Dakota, and here in Oklahoma.

Next Stop, Oklahoma

bill proposed by Republican Representative Scott Biggs would, if passed by voters, change Oklahoma’s constitution to say something very similar to Missouri’s. It adds: “The legislature shall pass no law that abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ agricultural technology and livestock production and ranching practices without a compelling state interest.”

John Collison with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau:

“Why is Human Society worried about agriculture?” The Oklahoma Farm Brueau’s John Collison asks. “If they truly loved animals like we do? We’re the ones that raise millions and millions of animals every single day, and take care of them. They’re our livelihood. We’re not going to treat our business badly.”

Cynthia Armstrong, with the Oklahoma branch of the Humane Society explains:

“I believe they are doing this at the bidding of corporate agriculture, large corporations that don’t want any restrictions,” Armstrong says. “They want to do business the way they want to do it, without regard to environmental concerns, animal welfare. They don’t want any of that getting in their way.”

Agriculture Isn't All

Humane Society accuses Farm Bureau of doing the bidding of big ag. Farm Bureau says it has to protect farmers from Humane Society-backed anti-GMO laws and chicken caging regulations, like ones in California and Oregon. But the right-to-farm fight in Oklahoma is about more than agricultural practices. Representative Biggs didn’t respond to StateImpact’s interview requests, but said as much when presenting House Joint Resolution 1012 in committee:

“Unfortunately we have an outside who has seen fit to kind of attack agriculture here in Oklahoma, go as far as to sue the attorney general who’s looking to protect us, to stop him from doing some of his actions,” Biggs told the House Rules Committee.

He’s referring to a lawsuit Humane Society filed against Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, accusing him of harassment. Pruitt is investigating whether the Humane Society fundraised off the Moore tornado. It’s confusing and seemingly unrelated to farmers’ rights.

Complicating matters is the fact that Oklahoma already has a right-to-farm law on the books. It outlaws so-called nuisance lawsuits against farmers and ranchers from nearby residents who might be disturbed by noise, odors, and pollution. All 50 states have some form of right-to-farm law, and the American Legislative Exhange Council — better known as ALEC — has been working to strengthen them.

But statutes are easy to change. The state constitution isn’t. McAlester Democrat Donnie Condit was the only ‘no’ vote on right-to-farm in committee:

“Forever’s a long time,” Condit says. “Ten, fifteen years from now, if we vote this in and the legislature comes up with a crisis with agriculture, their hands are tied. But that was my reasoning — two reasons, basically, is the probably hundreds of emails I got telling me to vote no on it. I don’t know if I got any to say vote yes.”

Right-To-Farm On The Ground

StateImpact asked a few Oklahoma farmers about what they think of right to farm, and couldn’t find any that knew about the issue. It’s not clear what a right-to-farm amendment would mean for Oklahoma, but North Dakota was the first state to add one in 2012. North Dakota State University Agricultural law professor David Saxowsky tells StateImpact that in the three years since being enacted, right-to-farm hasn’t been challenged.

“I don’t think anybody was on the verge of introducing any laws that would be struck down by this amendment,” Saxowsky says.

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StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership among Oklahoma’s public radio stations and relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online.

Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. Logan spent six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017.
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