Wow! We really love the Missouri miles we’ve run thus far. Stunning farm country with beautiful people. Not saying the Show Me state is perfect though. We’d love to have Missouri show us some shoulders on the sides of their roads. On the other hand, showing us 25 ticks in one day on Jenna (the newest member of our family we picked up at DAWGS in Dalhart, Texas), seems a bit over the top.
Maybe Missouri’s subsidized agribusiness entities learned how to suck blood from their parasitic arachnid cousins. Suit-wearing bloodsuckers are fixing to amend the Missouri State constitution, something that some of the local folks might say “don’t need no fixin’.”
According to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, if Agribusiness gets its way, independent family farmers will lose the protection they need to grow seed uncontaminated from GMOs, preserve livestock bloodlines, and access the market. Dubbed “Missouri’s Monsanto Protection Act,” “House Joint Resolution 11 (HJR 11) proposes an amendment to the Missouri Constitution that will forever protect “agricultural technology” and “modern and traditional” farming practices in Missouri. . . . This bill will benefit biotech and mega farm companies, not Missouri’s small family farms nor consumers seeking wholesome locally grown food.” (http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/aa/aa-8april2013.htm)
Ticks on Jenna tend to hide out under her fur to keep us from squashing them. Ticks in agribusiness hide out behind euphemistic, confusing language that will prevent voters from understanding what they may vote on.
The following text is what Missourians may read in the voting booth this fall:
“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ensure:
That the right of Missouri citizens to employ modern farming and ranching practices and equipment shall not be infringed.”
(http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/aa/aa-8april2013.htm)
It really ticks me off that big money and big corporations are working their hardest to remove Missourians right to limit GMOs and inhumane animal agriculture and they’re doing it with lies pretending to serve and protect family farmers.
Whether you live in Missouri or another neck of the U.S. woods, don’t fall for agribusiness and chemical industry lies. We have a right to know what’s in our food. We have a right to keep GMOs out of the fields if we the people choose to do so. We have a right to keep CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) away from schools, playgrounds, and our neighborhoods.
Today David and I are going to put in another 20 miles or so with Jenna in beautiful Missouri. No doubt, we’ll be pulling ticks all day long. It’s just what you do when you see ticks–whether those ticks feeds on dogs, people or politicians. We’re up for the job. If we all work together, we can remove and squash ticks whether they live in tall grass, St. Louis, or Washington D.C.
How can you help? Starting today and with the support of several GMO Free organizations, Food Democracy Now! has launched its Divest Monsanto Now! campaign. If you own Monsanto stock, it’s time to dump it. The timing couldn’t be better. Yesterday Vermont’s governor signed the nation’s first stand alone GMO labeling law and according to the Food Democracy Now! team, “. . . the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), and GMA member Monsanto, announced that they plan to sue the state of Vermont to stop the bill from being implemented!” Suing Vermont for giving its citizens the right to know what’s in their food? That would be unbelievable if we weren’t talking about Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
By dumping Monsanto stock, you send the unmistakably clear message to Monsanto that you refuse to profit from Monsanto blood-sucking business practices. What a fine day it will be when together we have removed one of the biggest ticks of all from our skin, farms, fields, and U.S. governmental chambers.
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Brett Wilcox is the author of We’re Monsanto: Feeding the World, Lie After Lie. Brett and his 15-year old son, David, are currently running from coast to America coast promoting a GMO-Free USA. Brett and David blog at RunningTheCountry.com. Brett wrote this blog in Willard, Missouri. Support their run and mission at RunningTheCountry.com/donate.
