Missouri Rural Crisis Center Archives

Mid-Missourians assist Columbia diner to feed hungry children during pandemic (AUDIO)

March 31, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A popular Columbia diner is crediting the generosity of mid-Missourians for helping them feed hundreds of hungry children, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Broadway Diner is located on South Fourth Street in downtown Columbia (March 28, 2020 photo from Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth)

Broadway Diner owner Dave Johnson has been feeding needy children for about two weeks, children who normally have breakfast and lunch at school.

“Call ahead with your orders, we don’t need to see the kids,” Johnson says. “We would encourage folks to keep the kids at home. But if you can get here (to the diner) safely, we’re going to make sure that the kids are fed.”

The diner is located on South Fourth Street in downtown Columbia.

Mr. Johnson tells Missourinet they fed 225 children during the first week. 88 children were fed on Sunday. He describes the generosity as amazing.

“I’m very proud that we haven’t asked for donations but folks have been driving by, dropping them off, sending them to the bank,” says Johnson. “And from all over, not just Columbians.”

Anyone interested in donating can drop checks off at the diner or at Providence Bank branches in Columbia.

Meanwhile, restaurant employees in Columbia who have been laid-off because of the COVID-19 pandemic have received food from the Missouri Rural Crisis Center. Johnson says the diner has used the Rural Crisis Center’s Patchwork Family Farms for years.

“They reached out to us Friday, last Friday, two Fridays ago now, to see how many employees I had. They had a box of really nice pork products for everybody that I’d laid off,” Johnson says.

Johnson says they also provided boxes of pork for other laid-off restaurant employees, in the community.

Governor Mike Parson has announced that for the week ending on March 21, more than 42,000 unemployment claims were filed, up from about 4,000 filed the previous week.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Broadway Diner owner Dave Johnson, which was recorded on March 28, 2020 outside Columbia’s Broadway Diner:

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.

Missouri Rural Crisis Center says CAFO bill does not respect local control

May 3, 2019 By Missourinet Contributor

The Missouri Rural Crisis Center is disappointed the state Senate has passed a bill that would protect large livestock feeding operations, known as CAFOs, from county regulations that are stricter than state regulations. Tim Gibbons says there is a “huge outpouring” of opposition to proposed protections on CAFOs.

Cows by a fence (photo: Happy Fence Friday, Larry Brown)

“We know that DNR (Department of Natural Resources) cannot and will not protect us from these absentee controlled operations,” he tells Brownfield Ag News. “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 livablity of our communities from industrial livestock operations.”

Gibbons says the state should be standing up for Missouri’s nearly 100,000 family farms – not the roughly 500 CAFOs. He says the voices of Missouri’s independent farmers and property owners are not as valued as corporate lobbyists working for industrial agriculture.

“In just under two weeks, both the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association and the Missouri Pork Association have hired seven new lobbyists to walk the halls of the Capitol,” says Gibbons. “We see firsthand what that type of influence has in our statehouse.”

Bill sponsor, Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, says the proposal would benefit family farmers and large animal feeding operations. He says he wants a statewide policy, instead of a hodge podge of local restrictions.

The measure, Senate Bill 391, heads to the House. Two weeks remain in the regular session of the Missouri Legislature.

By Julie Harker of Brownfield Ag News