Main Street vs. Big Pork

Should communities be able to exert control over which agricultural businesses they house?

That important question is currently being hashed out in a court case in Missouri, in which Arrow Rock — a town designated as a national historic landmark — is hoping an appeals court will affirm a previous decision barring a large-scale pig CAFO from setting up within two miles of the town because the smells and air pollution would damage the town's historic ambiance.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has appealed the ruling in state court, holding that this is the first step down a slippery slope of regulatory chaos.

Arrow Rock's historic-site argument is an unusual method of invoking one of the county-level local-control ordinances that serve as obstacles to big agricultural operations across the Farm Belt. Most towns in Missouri can only make the argument for restricting agricultural enterprises on the grounds of public health.

The D.A. says he worries that the judges on Missouri's more than 300 circuit and associate circuit courts might all come up with their own individual answers on the question of local control, creating an overly complex set of county health ordinances. He is instead in favor of a unified regulatory structure.

It sounds a little bit more like Koster is out to do the Missouri Farm Bureau's bidding than to help the citizens of his state lead healthier lives.

If Koster succeeds, Missouri will join other states in which powerful agricultural interests have gotten virtual carte blanche. Cases in Iowa and Ohio have recently put the kibosh on fledgling local control movements.

Will our communities continue to lose out to Big Ag? When are people — and history — going to be considered more important than profit?

Photo by Just chaos on Flickr