JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Farmers, ranchers, and rural Missourians have a few big wins this session, according to the president of the Missouri Farm Bureau.
Coming to into 2018, the statewide coalition came together and determined their top priorities: transportation infrastructure funding and rural broadband.
Both of those priorities were addressed by the General Assembly is some way, in some format.
On Friday, the last day of the regular session, the legislature put a 10 cent gas tax increase on the November ballot. The increase would take place over several years and will be used to update Missouri’s crumbling infrastructure.
“All Missourians deserve to have decent roads and bridges to travel on, both in cities and rural areas. We have let our funding stream slowly shrink for over 26 years, keeping the same fixed gas tax while inflation eats away at its buying power. Paying for repairs and upgrades takes money, and rural Missourians are willing to do their part to keep our roads and bridges functioning. We’re looking forward to a vote of the people so they have a choice about our future,” said Blake Hurst.
He points out that transportation is necessary to bring supplies to farms and to send the products they raise and grow to market. Rural Missourians also drive a tremendous amount, thus will likely pay a large part of the increase because of the amount of driving done.
“Traditionally, rural Missourians and the Farm Bureau have been skeptical of any increased taxes so basically we will see this fall. But I think people understand we haven’t increased funding for roads and bridges in a very long time,” Hurst said. “This is a use tax, the people using the roads are going to pay for them. That seems fair, I think, to most farmers.”
The General Assembly also passed several bills relating to broadband and getting unserved and underserved areas connected.
The bill awaiting the governor’s signature would set up a grant matching program in an effort to get internet to unserved Missouri.
“We still have some work to do to get it funded but it gives a give a vehicle to get rural areas connect,” said Hurst. He pointed out that rural Missouri is way behind their urban neighbors in getting access to broadband.
“We are running pretty sophisticated farms out here. We need that access, the ability to move data around in order to participate in the exciting new technology that is going on in agriculture…And we like to watch Netflix, too.”
Also passed out was legislation on Missouri Clean Water Law, meat product labeling, livestock, and a number of other agricultural issues. In the budget, the state will fulfill its obligation to the biodiesel incentive fund.
On the other hand, Hurst notes that the Department of Agriculture is underfunded and has been underfunded for several years. On that regards, he hopes a task force will be formed to look into the regulatory work the department does.
A few things didn’t get across the finish line, such working animal legislation, but he said they’ll be back next year to fight for farmers and ranchers.
“We are pleased with this session,” said Hurst.
“Despite a tremendous workload of issues, the Missouri legislature worked hard to secure several big wins for both rural Missourians and the entire state in its 2018 session.
“As with any year there are priorities to be addressed in the future, but 2018 has been a good year for Missouri agriculture policy.”
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
