Missouri Farmers Union President Richard Oswald says his organization opposes the so-called Right-to-Farm constitutional amendment that's to be considered on the statewide ballot this year.
Oswald says he believes there already exists the right to farm.
"What we're afraid of is that liberalizing a lot of the laws that we have today will make it a lot easier for corporations and maybe some less reputable large businesses to establish themselves as farms and do things that aren't really good for family farming," Oswald told Brownfield Ag News.
Opposition to that ballot issue is one of the provisions of Missouri Farmers Union policy passed by the statewide organization late last fall. Another resolution says that air-borne drones are a good thing for Missouri farmers.
Missouri Farmers Union members feel that drones should not be restricted to national security interests or to hobbyists, said Oswald, adding that there are a lot of good uses for them in agriculture.
"Drones are a pretty inexpensive way for small farmers to be able to look at their fields and do a lot of things on their farms that maybe only some large farmers would be able to do otherwise," said Oswald.
Oswald downplays the privacy concerns about drones, pointing out that anyone with a pilot's license in a small plane can do the same thing an unmanned aircraft can do.
"What I think drones does is I think it just opens it up so that anyone can use that technology to their own best benefit, and I think that the privacy issues are somewhat overblown when you figure that there are ways for people to look at your farm right now if they want to," said Oswald.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com