STOCKTON — When Missouri lawmakers passed a bill last month protecting large-scale hog farms and other concentrated animal feeding operations from local regulations, a coalition of industry groups applauded the move.

"Missouri farms should be governed by science-based rules and expert oversight, not reactionary fear mongering,” said a joint statement from the Missouri Farm Bureau, Cattlemen’s Association, Pork Association, Soybean Association and Corn Growers Association.

The tone was decidedly different in the Cedar County courthouse Wednesday evening.

The county, which wraps around Stockton Lake and the waterways that feed it, is one of 20 in Missouri that had adopted health ordinances regulating the concentrated feedlots, or CAFOs, that the new state law aims to undo. Under the legislation, which passed with overwhelming Republican support and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Parson, counties can't adopt CAFO rules stricter than those at the state level starting Aug. 28.

The crowd that filled most of a courtroom Wednesday included many who felt betrayed by their local representatives. Those gathered heard speakers defend Cedar County's ordinance and share horror stories of living next to the large-scale operations that opponents say pollute air and water and drive family farms out of business.

They heard Peggy Kenney, the county treasurer, who said her family raises 600 head of cattle, talk about how the county's rules keep industrial farms reasonable distances away from vulnerable waterways and residential homes, and manage traffic on rural roads.

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"We didn't do it to keep anyone out," she said of the ordinance. "We didn't do it to hinder agriculture in any way."

Then they heard from Ed McEowan, who lives with his wife Ruth in southeastern Cedar County, talk about living next to a hog-raising operation that set up near his property more than a decade ago.

He said the smell of ammonia and feces and the sound of thousands of hogs squealing made going outside or opening a window miserable, and the decline in his property's value foreclosed the prospect of moving.

"Then the depression comes because you feel like everything you've ever worked for on the place and built up has all come to nothing," he said.

Tim Gibbons, the Missouri Rural Crisis Center's communications director, called the legislation sponsored by Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, "an attack on our fundamental rights" that must be stopped.

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A proclamation that communities need "local control, not corporate control" and that their "future depends on it" prompted applause.

In interviews, a local lawmaker and a Farm Bureau official dismissed such rhetoric, saying large-scale indoor operations help feed a growing population and control manure far better than the farms of decades past, and are properly regulated by experts at the state Department of Natural Resources.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst said his parents live about a quarter of a mile away from an operation in northwest Missouri and see no reason to fear. He said the smell is only an issue a few days a year, and the well water is just fine.

"We're living the dream here, and it has not changed our quality of life," he said.

Rep. Warren Love, R-Osceola, whose district covers northern Cedar County and voted for the bill, said people who say otherwise aren't being honest.

"Let’s face it: (Opponents of the new law) either don’t like the smell or they don’t want (CAFOs) in the community," he said. "If you want to live where there’s no livestock, go live somewhere in the city limits."

(Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, Rep. Mike Stephens, R-Bolivar, and Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar, whose districts also cover Cedar County and who all voted for the bill, did not respond to requests for comment by press time.)

But several people in the courthouse Wednesday evening felt differently.

Randy Hayward, who owns a couple dozen acres south of Stockton, said he liked the local regulations the state is curtailing.

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"I think it was a good idea for what the county commissioners did to protect our family farms," he said. "We need some regulations to protect our county."

Sharon Gough, who also lives in the county, went even further.

"I strongly favor strong limitations and strong rules on CAFOs, period," she said. "Not just from the standpoint of property values and quality of life, but from the standpoint of environmental issues as well. There's really nothing good about CAFOS when it comes to human, animal and environmental health."

And Darren Morrison, who farms in Cedar County and lives in Dade County, said things need to start moving in a different direction in Jefferson City.

"I hope this starts a grass-roots movement that can put the local farmer's voice back in Jeff City," he said. "The farmers who live here do not want dirty water and smelly air."

The legislation is Senate Bill 391.