Missouri Corn Growers Association Archives

Missouri farm groups and Rural Crisis Center view agriculture bill differently

June 10, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s governor traveled to Sedalia this weekend for a ceremonial signing of legislation that supporters say will benefit agriculture.

State Rep. Chuck Basye (left) was among numerous lawmakers who joined Missouri Governor Mike Parson at the Cattlemen’s steak dinner in Sedalia on June 8, 2019 (photo courtesy of Representative Basye’s Twitter page)

About 700 people attended Saturday evening’s Missouri Cattlemen’s steak dinner at the state fairgrounds in Sedalia.

Governor Mike Parson (R) held a ceremonial signing of Senate Bill 391, which prevents counties from imposing regulations on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that are stricter than state regulations. House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann, R-O’Fallon, and State Rep. Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, were among the many lawmakers at Saturday’s event.

Governor Parson praises lawmakers for approving the bill, saying it signals that Missouri supports the next generation of agriculture.

“We’ve now opened the doors that will allow Missouri to lead the way in meeting a growing world food demand and ensure we keep more agriculture production in our state, strengthening Missouri’s number one industry,” Parson says.

The governor notes Missouri agriculture is an $88 billion industry, and remains the state’s top economic driver.

Critics of the legislation say this will prevent counties from protecting water and air.

The Missouri Rural Crisis Center’s Tim Gibbons spoke to our sister network Brownfield in May, saying lawmakers should be standing up for Missouri’s 100,000 family farms, not the approximately 500 concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs.

“We know that DNR (the state Department of Natural Resources) cannot and will not protect us from these absentee controlled operations,” Gibbons told Brownfield in May. “So local control is one way that farmers and people in rural counties have been able to put safeguards on these type of operations to protect the property rights, the property values, the water and air, the livability of our communities from industrial livestock operations.”

State Rep. Doug Clemens, D-St. Ann, who voted against the bill, told lawmakers in May that the CAFO operations are managed by owners who aren’t from the area.

“This isn’t about our family farms,” Representative Clemens said during House floor debate in May. “This is about corporate controlled industry, half of which is foreign-owned.”

The bill sponsors see it differently. State Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, and State Rep. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, say it’s important to have a statewide policy, instead of various different restrictions at the county level.

The Missouri Corn Growers Association also praises the bill, saying it will bring positive market growth in Missouri for years to come. The Missouri Farm Bureau also backs the measure, and Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst attended Saturday’s bill-signing.

Under current Missouri law, the notice of intent to file an application for an operating permit for a new or expanded facility is sent to property owners within 1.5 times the buffer distances for CAFOs. The new law requires that the notice be given to property owners located within three times of the buffer distances, and the notices must now be sent by certified mail.

SB 391 also establishes the Joint Committee on Agriculture, which will study the economic impact of Missouri’s agricultural industry and will study ways to create incentives to encourage farmers to adopt best practices to scientifically address the state’s carbon footprint.

The new law is scheduled to take effect on August 28.

Ethanol plant at Macon to suspend operations due to drought, undergo upgrades

January 25, 2013 By Mike Lear

POET Biorefining, the company that operates an ethanol plant at Macon, has announced that operations at that facility will be suspended due to the drought.

POET Biorefining has announced it will suspend operations at its ethanol plant in Macon due to the drought, and will continue making $14.5 in upgrades to it. (Photo courtesy; POET biorefining)

General Manager of the plant, Steve Burnett, explains what lead to the decision.

“There was no corn available in our draw area in the whole northeast third of the state, and to go outside the state and get it … number one its higher cost because there’s less supply but number two, you have to add pretty expensive truck freight to get it in here, so it just didn’t work.”

Burnett says he doesn’t know if POET will suspend operations at any of its other plants.

Missouri Corn Growers Association Vice President of Operations Gary Wheeler says his organization hasn’t heard of any other plants planning to shut down.

As to whether they will, he says, “It’s truly hard to say, not knowing the ins and outs and dealing with each plant on a daily basis. I do know that the rest of the plants, as the one there in Macon, are ran by some great folks and can make some great decisions for their farmers and I believe they’ll continue to do so.”

General Manager at the Macon ethanol plant, Steve Burnett, speaks to the media during a visit by President Barack Obama in 2010. (Photo courtesy; POET Biorefining)

The plant will keep on all 44 employees and use the suspension to make about $14.5 million dollars in upgrades that will increase its efficiency and add to its product line. The upgrades began in November, and Burnett says they are evidence that the plant’s investors are “in it for the long haul.”

“They’re all farmers and businessmen that’s been here, most of them, all their lives. It’s not the first drought they’ve seen for sure. They know that with the right technology this plant can compete actually better than many.”

He says the investors voted to pursue the upgrades knowing that the plant would likely have to suspend operations due to a lack of corn.

The Macon plant produces 45 million gallons of denatured ethanol annually. The upgrades won’t change that output, but it will add to the list of products the plan produces.

“When this is finished, we’ll sell fuel ethanol, distiller’s dried grain, distiller’s wet grain, syrup, corn oil and carbon dioxide … more products than most ethanol plants can make.”

Work on the upgrades is scheduled to continue through September. Burnett says the suspension of production will continue indefinitely.