I worked in business for years—but we always gardened for over forty years and back in 1992 we opened a small greenhouse business called The Peppermint Dragon. I continued to work and even finished college and ran two farmers markets—Jenks and Downtown Tulsa (I am retired from doing either now as we sell directly from the farm). I’ve attended the Horticulture Industry Show that TCC used to hold every other year and was involved with much of what OSU and the Oklahoma Dept of Ag had going on that included the statewide Farmers Market Alliance and even had help from the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Why bring all this up? Because we have a State Question 777 Right to Farm on the ballot this fall. The OK Legislators do not want to be held responsible for the implementation of this harmless sounding legislation but it is fast becoming clear to me that when it ruins our water and costs us millions in lost family farms—the Federal government will have to step in and save us from the stupidity of our voters if they remain uninformed.
I’m against this State Question 777 as a farmer who grows food on a small acreage farm. This bill is poorly written and adds a new section of law to the State Constitution—Section 38 to Article 2. It protects the rights of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices. It prohibits the Legislature from passing laws that would take away the right to employ agricultural technology and livestock production without a compelling state interest. It provides for interpretation of the section.
Sounds simple, right? Well, any animal, except us humans, would be considered for farming which means that whatever a farmer wants to do to an animal cannot be undone or considered cruel if a farmer can claim that it is a good practice. It could easily lead to mistreatment of any kind of animal and include small pins for pigs for their entire lifetime, overcrowded hen houses or even letting humans open puppy mills as a farm. After all, the law will not restrict what kind of animal a person is raising on land designated as agricultural land.
But some of the most frightening ideas are that if a foreign entity comes in with a big corporate farm they can basically use whatever over sprays of pesticides, herbicides and there is not going to be much the neighboring farms and homes will have to not be included in those events. I have bees—we have a lot of bees in the Tulsa area with the Northeastern Oklahoma Beekeepers Association (NEOBA) and it is a hard-working group of individuals who raise bees all over Green Country. Bees are a must to keep pollinators and food production on small vegetable farm operations.
We own land in Creek County—it is agricultural use land—I already have the right to farm by that designation alone. The greenhouse requires a license—the truck garden does not.
The Oklahoma Stewardship Council is strongly advising everyone to vote no on this issue also. Here are some points on their pamphlets with my added comments in parenthesis:
If passed, State Question 777 will:
- Devastate Oklahoma family farms.
- Set the state for foreign corporations’ ownership of Oklahoma land with no checks and balances.
- Take away Oklahoma’s voice (our state legislators are bowing out on this with the language used) and leave all the power to Washington bureaucrats (the EPA will have to save our water for us).
- Harm our animals, preventing any reasonable standards for animal welfare.
- Open the door to shield puppy mills and criminal cock (or dog) fighting operations from prosecution.
- Harm Oklahoma’s ability to protect its drinking water while removing any state standard to polluters.
- Lead to massive litigation benefitting only trial lawyers.
SQ 777 would give constitutional protection to horse slaughter and farm animal cruelty—extreme animal confinement in gestation crates, a practice so cruel that McDonald’s and Walmart are saying no to it.
Finally, some facts that have occurred:
- Saudi Arabia and China are buying millions of acres of American farmland.
- Missouri passed “Right to Farm” where China now owns more than 50,000 acres of Missouri Farmland (where I can imagine they will bring their own cheap labor to work).
- More than 325,000 acres of Oklahoma are already owned by foreign investors.
- SQ 777 would give foreign corporations a constitutional shield to pollute our land and water.
For more information, visit votenoon777.com
For me, this is a definite “no” I won’t vote to ruin the water here. Many tribes in our state are also against this question. Let’s keep this from becoming a part of our constitution.
Donna Vogelpohl, owner, The Peppermint Dragon
