Bill Text: MO HCR20 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requests the U.S. Congress to urge the USDA and EPA to approve 2,4-D tolerant crops to allow Missouri farmers fair access to needed advancements in agriculture
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-04-10 - Senate Message (S) [HCR20 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2014-HCR20-Introduced.html
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
House Concurrent Resolution No. 20
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES REIBOLDT (Sponsor), HOUGHTON, LANT, JOHNSON, BLACK, LOVE, HODGES, MCGAUGH, FITZWATER AND SCHIEFFER (Co-sponsors).
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
WHEREAS, Missouri agriculture accounts for $17.5 billion annually and contributes to our nation’s robust agricultural tradition; and
WHEREAS, Missouri’s production of corn and soybeans alone is valued at more than $3.5 billion per year, with nearly 80 percent of corn and 50 percent of soybeans exported annually; and
WHEREAS, these yields are threatened due to no less than six weed species having developed glyphosate resistance throughout important agricultural counties in the state; and
WHEREAS, without access to new modes of action, farmers soon will be forced to revert to outdated, costly, and environmentally unsustainable farming practices to manage weeds such as tillage and weeding by hand; and
WHEREAS, 2,4-D tolerant crops is a new technology that will inhibit herbicide-resistant weeds from reducing crop yields in Missouri and allow farmers to employ ecological and economical farming practices; and
WHEREAS, this new seed technology has been under review by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for more than four years; and
WHEREAS, these delays by federal regulatory agencies put Missouri farmers at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace as Canada and Brazil have already approved 2,4-D tolerant crops; and
WHEREAS, American farmers also must have access to these same tools to provide a livelihood to their families and ensure that Missouri remains a top agricultural producing state:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-seventh General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby request the United States Congress to urge the USDA and EPA to quickly approve 2,4-D tolerant crops to allow Missouri farmers fair access to needed advancements in agriculture; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare a properly inscribed copy of this resolution for the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.
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